In a Heart Beat
by Din Kelion
Summary: A fairy tale comes to life when one of Jack’s newest ghost hunting inventions intrudes between a fight with Vlad and Danny. An old spell is broken and not only do Vlad’s powers decline severely, but so does his age. VmXDf
1. Prologue

Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Teaser:** A fairy tale comes to life when one of Jack's newest ghost hunting inventions intrudes between a fight with Vlad and Danny. An old spell is broken and not only does Vlad's powers decline severely, but so does his age.VmXDf

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused. Keep in mind; _**this isn't going to be very obvious**_between the pairing until later in the story…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Prologue**

**A bedtime story**

"_One heart beat is all it takes to live; however short that beat may be, it makes a sound that last's forever." – _Red-Phantom

Stories, by definition, are false history lessons that teach children to listen to their parents. They are used to teach the proper morals in society through the use of a fabricated tale. 'A lie that is used to tell the truth' as some have said. Good triumphs over evil, right over wrong, and so forth… Most stories explain that the good characters are usually charming and modest, while the bad guys are ugly and deceitful. Stories are told that way to teach children how to act and look.

If an evil villain had rotting teeth, then that would be the result of not brushing them- in which case, the child hearing the story would get the impression that brushing your teeth was good, in contrast to not brushing them.

However, this story isn't the same as the others…

It is a story that tells a little bit of truth, like all fairy tales do. It once used to be a well known tale, but because of its conflict with morals, it was changed to something completely different. What was called the 'hero' in this story, was actually another villain to another story. So parents changed the names around- even the faces too…

By the time society had gotten through with the tale, the villain had become the righteous loving hero, the antagonist was a dark evil witch, and the love interest was an angelic maiden. Approximately one third of this is correct…

Here is how the story goes, the one that everyone has known it to be…

Before the story began, there was once an evil witch.

She was evil because she stole things from people. But not just ordinary things- like food, or naughty little children wandering in the night. She stole something that was very valuable and well hidden. They were invisible to the human eye, but this witch could see them…

She could see their beauty glow like pieces of the sun in her cursed eyes. No one else could see them- and no one rarely acknowledged their radiance until they realize their absence.

For you see, the witch stole hearts.

She didn't just steal them, she ate them too.

The brighter the heart was in her vile eyes, the more delectable it was. The more a person loved another, the brighter the heart became. The witch new this, so she hunted only after the hearts of those who were just falling in love.

Whenever she saw that there was a heart worth stealing, she would disguise herself and steal the heart for herself, leaving behind an empty shell that would soon die in its own despair. The witch earned the name as the Heart Thief over the years as she wreaked emotional havoc amongst young, blossoming couples.

She loved hearts.

She loved to watch them grow, and she loved to take them when they were at their brightest and reddest. Their warm vibrant throbs with life, and their symbolic growth of compassion drove the witch mad with gluttony when she had tasted her first heart.

Some say that she had become so greedy that she had even devoured her own ticking heart. And because she had taken her own heart, the witch began to survive off of using the hearts that she had stolen. They had become her sustenance for life and the stronger the hearts that she ate, the more powerful she became for a period of time…

Although this witch was evil, she was also very clever. The Heart Thief knew that she could be in danger of draining her livestock, so she hid away silently, waiting patiently for the hearts of humans to grow… She couldn't risk being found out, otherwise it would be all the more harder for her to snatch her desires. With hiding away, her legacy as the Heart Thief became only a rumor that faded over time.

Here is where our hero comes in.

Once there was a man. He was curious, strong, brave, and everything else that would be typical for a hero to be. He was a middle class man, a daring man researching into the unknown. Even though he was young, he was wise beyond his years, albeit a little bit obsessive, but no hero was ever without flaw.

He was a proud figure, and stood in society as a perfect citizen. His life was no different than to that of any other mans, but he was not content. On the contrary, our hero wasn't happy; he was very miserable.

For you see, this man was on the verge of loosing his will to live.

He had lost someone very dear to him. A woman that he had fawned over for years had slipped out of his grasp. He loved her so- yet the woman shared no feelings for him. What's more that tormented the man was that she was marrying someone else, someone less than him.

Crushed and morbid, the man wandered away from civilization. He was a man that never gave up- he always took life by the horns and throttled it to the ground… yet on that day he felt the impossible blow of unrequited love and was ready to give up hope in ever falling in love again.

The man wandered aimlessly to shed his woe wordlessly to the forests he had stumbled into. The man knew where he was. It was a place that no one ever traveled through, yet this man had unknowingly stepped into it. By the time he had discovered where his feet had taken him, he was lost.

It just so happened that the very place the man had gotten lost in was the domain of the Heart Thief. Now naturally, the witch slept to preserve her energy, but she was roused by the mournful sighs of a moping man. The witch went to investigate, and upon finding the saddened man, she was surprised.

Had it been any other human, the witch would have cackled and laughed at how feeble the heart had become with all of its hardships, yet as the evil witch gazed into this man's heart-

Her breath was stilled with the sight of a golden heart, beating lusciously in the man's chest. It was blackened and bruised with sores, and there were cracks splitting across its worn surface, yet the witch could see without a doubt that this heart was worth stealing.

At that instant, the witch wanted that heart.

However, she wanted it fully grown and ripe for the picking before she plucked it out of this man. Not this- miserable excuse of a breaking heart. The witch knew that if she didn't do anything, the man's heart would shatter in its woeful state, so she used an old powerful spell to enchant the man.

The spell was something similar to a love spell, but it didn't make the man fall in love with just anyone, oh no- the spell did nothing like that. This spell was a very deceitful incantation…It rekindled the man's determination- his will to love. It dulled the knife of unrequited love, and blinded him to believe he still had a chance to win the heart of an engaged woman.

Unbeknownst of the witch or her spell, the man no longer found himself lost or sad. He felt compelled to fight for what his heart desired, even if his love was in the arms of another.

Upon returning home, the man vowed he would never give up his attempt to win the love of his life…

Years dragged by, and the witch's spell continued to compel the heart-struck man to chase after his unrequited love no matter how many times he would try and fail. The man soon became obsessed with the need to adore what he could never have, and the witch watched patiently for her prey's heart to grow. It would take longer with the spell that she had used to enchant him, since it wasn't true love that no longer compelled him, but the Heart Thief was a very patient woman. She could wait for that heart to grow, and once it was large enough, she would devour it.

The man's heart grew, even though his affections for his assumed love were never returned. The witch watched, hidden within her domain, as she saw the man slowly grow almost deranged with self pity, but she didn't care, the heart still grew, and she took weary precautions to make sure the man's heat would not break under its constant gravity. It was a hard task to do, but the witch wanted that heart within her grasps, and she wanted it as large as she could get it.

But before the Heart Thief could proceed with her harvesting of the man's heart, a mysterious young maiden stepped into the picture; and she seemed to disrupt the enchanted man's passion.

The man's heart was beginning to waver dangerously…

**DP**

It was all so very interesting, these ghosts.

Keyword: _was_.

They _were _interesting; an enigma that cried for discovery. Ghosts were the very reason that Vlad had first dared to collaborate with Jack to still his curiosity about these spectral phenomenas. It also created the small bond of fleeting friendship between an impulsive oaf and a now pretentious billionaire.

The friendship didn't last obviously, but the interest remained.

What supplied their source of energy? How did they come into existence? Can they die? Could they produce offspring? Why are they so different from one another? These were only the first few choice questions that have never been answered or proven by humans. Questions that Vlad had once wanted to know for many years in his adolescence.

Ghosts were a mystery to him when he was younger, and if it weren't for his curiosity for these spectral anomalies, Vlad would have never met Maddie.

His curiosity also was the inevitable host to introducing Jack and his confounded ghost portal.

This could explain why Vlad venomously hated ghosts. They had tricked him- fooled him with human curiosity and lead him into a path of secrecy, secluding himself from society for years. It wasn't fun, but at least now… his curiosity was staved.

And now he knew the answer to various questions that would have fascinated him, had he not paid the ultimate cost for them. Through his hate, Vlad had reluctantly studied what he had half become.

He learned many things about ghosts; their types; their character traits; even how some came into existence. It was fascinating- all of it! To learn the properties of ectoplasm and how ghost use it was simply breath taking- in a literal sense.

The more Vlad knew, the more questions he unearthed to answer, and the harder it was to study them. They were, in their own way, a never ending cycle of knowledge. It was sometimes tedious, but Vlad never was the one to turn down new opportunities. He wouldn't be rich if he wasn't like that…

He also wouldn't be a half ghost for that matter either.

All in all, his category of knowledge to this present day was now cornered on the concept of ghostly life. In the past, he easily deducted that a ghost can, in fact die. Although, it was wasn't considered death- but more of a release of productive thought- like a ball of yarn becoming unraveled. He had watched some ghosts die simply out of boredom of being a ghost. Funny, really- and a little bit alarming.

But that wasn't what he was researching about now- whether there was other ways for a ghost to die or not, Vlad had other things on his mind that he wanted to know about.

Namely age.

It wasn't just because Vlad was also self conscious of his own age, but that of other ghosts. It was a troublesome strand of research, mostly because it was time consuming.

Over twenty years to be exact.

He hadn't really thought about it in his early stages as a young halfa- making his notch in the world as a rich and single bachelor of the real world. But it slowly began to dawn on him that age wasn't the same for humans and ghosts. And for that matter- all of the ghosts aged differently as well.

Take Skulker for example. He has no human form, so it was particularly hard to analyze him. But through a discussion, Vlad had learned that Skulker has lived for nearly sixty years. As dumb as he may sometimes seem- Vlad had only to assume that Skulker's intellect did not mature as quickly as a humans. And judging from Skulkers green appearance, he had only to presume that the ghost hunter did not change shape over the time period of his afterlife.

Now Technus was a more comparable study. Vlad rarely ever made it apparent that he was 'studying' ghosts- anything he picked up was always through experience. Vlad had only to see Technus a few times to realize that this ghost of electronics frequently changed his form depending on the update of modern technology around him.

As a guess, Vlad assumed that Technus must be as old as the first ever made computer. He has never bothered to ask, although there is a good chance that his assumption was correct. Judging from his out of date phrases and attire, it isn't a very farfetched theory.

It was strange, watching these examples- and more. Their methods of aging were either nonexistent or utterly different. There was no pattern amongst other ghosts.

Johnny 13, the ignorant ghost punk that Vlad has made clear to never associate with, aged almost like a human. As a matter of fact, he aged faster whenever he becomes weaker- a curious discovery that both irked and pleased Vlad.

Other ghosts similar to Johnny were the same- or vise versa.

And Clockwork, well, there was no possible way of saying that he is young, old or in his prime. He is usually all of the above at the same time to Vlad's irritation.

The Fright Knight was a prime example of being immortal. The billionaire halfa has only known the ghost for at least two years, and it didn't take a genius to guess that the Fright Knight has lived long enough to have fought against the knights of our history. Besides him, there was also the dragon sister and brother of one of the ghost domains. Not only do they appear to come from the same time era as the Fright Knight, but they haven't aged a day older than since they- possibly- died.

All these illustrations of aging troubled Vlad because he couldn't predict anything with using his gathered data. The very reason for looking more into this research was to answer one of his questions that have become direr to him with each passing year.

Did he stop aging when he became a half ghost?

Surely not. Someone would have noticed in the passing of twenty years. Yet- as Vlad neared his mid forties, he was becoming worried that someone might begin to notice that his appearance hasn't much altered since he was in his mid twenties.

As frustrating as it be, Vlad was incapable of using an analogous study. His hair had turned stark white and grey since the accident- so he couldn't rely on any lurid signs of grey hairs as he already had enough of them. A Physical study into his human body found that, in definition, Vlad was as fit as a fiddle- maybe even more so. But that could be easily explained by his insistent need to take care of himself.

With his visual assets failing in his study, Vlad resorted to the more invisible ways of measuring age; blood testing.

Sure enough, his blood told another story of his life time. Had any one ever looked at his blood, they would think that they were staring at the blood of a twenty-four year old male with ghostly imbued D.N.A. That was only a couple years difference since his accident.

Of course, Vlad's appearance changed characteristically- he stopped dressing like an adolescent, and more like a business man, and he wore his hair in the fashion that most others thought as proper and 'elderly'. He had even dawned dark circles under his eyes- courtesy of some make up and endless nights of research- to make him look sharp and older. It wasn't too hard for him to look forty, even if it was unintentional.

As soon as he learned of this, Vlad became pleased and worried at the same time.

He was pleased, because he knew he would be able to predict his life span- even Daniel's if he wanted to punch in the numbers. But he also became worried because in his breakthrough, a new inquiry rose from the ashes of his discovery.

What will become of his dearest Maddie when he has aged well past a hundred years?

He won't be able to keep his secret for much longer if people see a billionaire in his early nineties looking like he'd just reach thirty years.

Maybe it was easy to hide under the mask of a forty-year old billionaire, but sixty or even fifty?

Vlad had to start doing something before things got out of hand… But he still had a few years before he needed to worry about it too much… Cancel a few doctor appointments, avoid questions relating to his complexion. Easy.

For now, Maddie and Daniel was his prime concern. His heart still ached so much with Maddie out of his reach, and Daniel was that violent rose within a garden that needed to be properly trimmed to perfection before it outgrew its soft vines. They were more of a concern to Vlad than his awareness of his longevity.

In fact, with the realization of longer life, Vlad suddenly found it more urgent to have Maddie in his arms…

Which brings us to why he resided once more within Amity Park, partaking in yet another one sided spat against a young oblivious halfa known as Danny Phantom…

**DP**

The story unfolds…

**DP**

**Thanks to:** Red-Phantom for being my reliable beta, helpful advisor, and tolerable twin.


	2. Jack's Lucky Shot

Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**Note Two: **I forgot to mention in the first note- but this Fan fiction is _based on prior events of __**season three**__ of the 'Danny Phantom' Episodes_.

**DP**

**Chapter 1**

**Jack's lucky shot**

Life isn't fair.

Countless people have said this before and have often reflected; why life couldn't be fair. The specific answer to such a question could be explained through an example of evolution, but to simplify it into the most pathetic and usually irritating of answers; life was, is, and would remain unfair because it just _was_. Life wouldn't be interesting if everything was fair.

This could explain why Daniel was growing immensely agitated, as he felt particularly ripped off by life, fate, chance, or whatever it was that perceived the present moment. Life was _too_ interesting for Danny Fenton, and it was too unfair.

It hasn't been just lately- it has become habitual over the time span of two years- this nuisance of being a supernatural hero, yet _lately_ it has grown on the teen's frail nerves, causing him to be especially snappish around his close friends and surprised enemies. Ghosts were haunting Amity Park in regular intervals of unsuspecting moments. Yet they aren't erratic any more, they were just plain annoying.

And what was worse was Daniel had been taking hits as an innocent teenager almost as much as his heroic counterpart.

Fighting back Skulker from hunting him and his friends; finishing homework at the last minute; defending boxes and his sanity from the box ghost; resentfully enjoying a swirly in the hands of the school jock; endure lectures and attacks from Technus; tarnish his already blackened name as a means to keep his second identity hidden and unintentionally further part himself with his worrying parents in the process...

_These were freakin' normal_.

Danny could put up with them most of the time, as long as he had a pause to recover from each of them. But there were two new unfair things to add to his lists of 'things that are totally unfair'. Both of which happened to involve the same person.

Vlad.

He was back again with the intention of murdering his father and sweep his mom off her feet. The idea still makes him gag a little when he thought about it. Vlad doesn't often show up personally. He usually sends his goons, or ghouls, to track down and kill his father, but this time Plasmius was here in the sickly blue flesh- which meant things were a tad more serious than the usual encounters.

This also brought of Danny's second dilemma. But at this current moment, Danny had thankfully let _that_ problem fall back into his tangled mind to pour more of his concentration on Vlad and his typically evil plans.

Speaking of which, it was odd to have Vlad show up unannounced. Danny knew Vlad was the type to plan things out- resort to using his puppets before he threw himself into the game. Maybe he did have something up his sleeve, but all Danny could tell was that Vlad was trying to be blunt- subdue him, then locate and kill his father.

"Why do you even try?" the villain bantered.

For approximately ten minutes, Danny had launched at Vlad with the intent to physically discourage Vlad from trying to take out his father's life. Unfortunately, Vlad has treated most of the ghost boy's attacks like a furious little fly buzzing around his head. He wasn't even putting up much effort to hurting Daniel even though he had already accomplished landing a few gut wrenching blows that would likely bruise in the next hour.

"It's like you're insulting me by merely _trying,_" Plasmius said with a crude laugh as he ducked a fragile arm and easily snatched Danny Phantom out of the air by his wrist and swung him over his head and into the nearest lamp post. Danny gritted his teeth and regained his composure quickly as he rose into the air, making sure that Vlad's attention was cornered on him.

He couldn't have Plasmius lose interest in this battle and resort to finding his father who was currently wondering where his youngest child had gone when he had turned his back for a second to get one of his newest ghost catching inventions.

Danny was trying to patch up things between his Mom and Dad before Vlad had interrupted his unusually unfair day. Thanks to Jazz, his parents haven't lost entire hope at reaching their only son. And Danny was putting in his effort too. However, just when he was possibly starting to enjoy a father-son outing, Plasmius had shown up, looking blatantly determined.

_It just wasn't fair!_

Danny attacked relentlessly, using all of the resources at his disposal while sparring with the white clad half ghost. Vlad was stronger than him still. Even after two years of acting ghost hero for Amity Park. Two years of practicing to keep up with his villains. Most of the time he does, but Vlad always stood a few levels higher than him and remains there still, unrelenting.

It infuriated Danny.

He attacked this way and that- and sometimes got in a blow that hurt more than just a light slap. Vlad took his hits like a ghost- sometimes growling, but most times laughing as he mocked the boy's strength. Every hit Danny got in Vlad served three more in return. It was almost as if the hybrid was counting them to be sure he was paying Danny his due amounts each time.

"What's wrong little Badger? Can't find a good come-back?" He called out, almost flagging the young bull with the inside of his red cape. Danny flared easily.

It was the truth, thought Phantom as his hands radiated with ectoplasm. There was something wrong. Something not fair! Why couldn't he defeat a mid-forty-some-old halfa? His prime was long gone, Vlad should be resorting to a walking stick now, or- or catching some terminal illness and becoming bed ridden!

Vlad was _old_. There had to be a turning point for Vlad- a limit.

Though his thoughts were jumbled, Danny summoned up enough awareness to respond. After all, what was a good fight without witty banter to infuriate your opponent?

"Sorry," the ghost boy said, sounding anything but. "I was too busy noticing how gray your hair has gotten." Okay, not so much as witty, but a quip nonetheless. And while he spoke, he darted at Plasmius, tossing two of his own ecto blasts at him.

A spark rose into the air around Vlad's ghostly form. Hissing, the pale ghost evaded the boy's attack with one of his own light red ecto-blasts that slammed Danny off course and through the air by the sheer force. If Danny weren't so consumed with pain., he would have realized that he had struck a tender cord. Vlad wasn't done paying back Danny's comment and before Danny could recover, Vlad had caught up with the ghost-child and jabbed a knee into the boy's slender flank, sending him high into the air like a juggled soccer ball.

"Lying is a very bad habit. You should learn to stop before it becomes a hazard," Vlad said as the ghost boy sailed through the air before awkwardly salvaging his footing in time to avoid smacking into anything potentially hard. Danny would have laughed bitterly at this if he wasn't already miserably aware of how pathetic his lie was.

Vlad _hasn't_ changed.

No, correction; he was always a little bit stronger, just as Danny was every time they matched fists; enough to keep the playing ground the same since they first met. But physically, he looked no different than the day he had first seen him during his father's High School reunion.

Maybe he was good at hiding his age. Maybe not. It annoyed Danny that the only possible way of finding out was to actually ask him- which Danny wasn't planning to do now, or for a long time, possibly ever.

"Why don't you do me and my mom a favor and just give up!" Danny spat out venomously as he swayed in the air, taking care to keep out of reach from Vlad's grasp. As Danny predicted, Vlad didn't take to kindly to the suggestion and Danny had to raise a shield before he got himself flared by a barrage of pink ecto-attacks.

"You still haven't figured it out yet, have you?" Said Plasmius as he looked up at the injured ghost-hero and smirked. Danny squinted at him resentfully. He could tell that the older-hybrid was grinding his elongated fangs in his excuse for a smirk.

A grin sprang across Daniel's lips as an opportunity to taunt appeared.

"What? That you're a crazy fruit-loop and really need to get a life?"

Danny narrowly avoided a pink ray of ectoplasm just as he uttered the last words of his insult. The next moment, Danny saw Vlad coming at him, and Danny sprinted in the air away from the older figure in time to avoid another possible beating.

"No, Daniel," snarled Vlad as he glowered at Danny Phantom. The boy had certainly hit a sore spot, after all, it was Danny's most favored nickname for Vlad Masters.

"That you are in a desperate need of a cat?" Danny said, taking the opportunity to change his answer and further irk the older half ghost.

Another ecto-blast cascaded through the air, this one nearly hitting poor Danny across the face before he generated a neon green guard to deflect the next furious series of pink blasts coming his way.

"Wrong again," growled Vlad as he lost his patience with the boy's repetitive insults. He came at the ghost-child, his hands emitting an ominous light red glow steadily.

"That you-" Before Danny could finish his next taunt, Vlad had intercepted Daniel's range of security with a quick shot of ectoplasm that slapped across his face and sealed his mouth shut.

Distracted with the fact that he mouth was incapable of use, Danny hadn't notice Vlad quickly latch one of his strong hands to the boy's frail throat while another hand came around the boy's waist, pinning his arms to his sides. Strangely, to Danny's discomfort, he didn't feel Vlad's hand on his neck tighten.

"Stop that, Daniel. I might end up killing you by accident," Vlad growled into the ear of the stunned child.

"Amphident?" Danny's muffled voice came through the pink ecto material over his lips.

Vlad responded with a light squeeze to the boy's neck.

"I haven't given up on Maddie for twenty years, what makes you think you could change my mind now, little badger?"

_Because I know how hopeless you are; she doesn't care about you and she never will; you've wasted twenty years 'NOT' succeeding, where do you think you'll be in the next twenty? My mom is already happily married with my dad. You don't come into the picture._

_Why don't you just! Move! On!_

Infuriated and silenced, Danny glared at Vlad, wishing he could say so many things. Vlad must have taken humor in watching Danny struggle in his grasp because a wicked smile spread across his gaunt face.

Danny wanted to hit him. Not that he didn't want to do so already, it's just that Danny wanted to hit Vlad _really_ hard; enough to drive the truth through his thick skull. The ghost boy's hands radiated dangerously while he struggled fruitlessly in Plasmius's grasp.

"Your father is that thorn that needs to be removed. Once he is gone, things will be _much_ better. Even you will understand." Vlad continued, sometimes stilling Danny by testing his grip around the boy's arms and neck.

Speaking of a particular oblivious father, Danny noticed as he gazed at Vlad that just behind his sinister shoulder Danny could see a flash of orange heading towards them. Danny wondered if he would have warned Vlad had he been able to… At this moment, Danny presumed not.

Vlad caught onto the sound of heated wires coming to life from a hefty ecto-gun resting on Jack's shoulder. He had only time to turn his head before Jack's gun fired and shot out a powerful ray of blue composed energy.

Vlad took the hit full on- but not before Vlad had released his hold on Danny assumingly by accident during his distraction. The ghost boy backed away hurriedly the moment the shot struck Plasmius square in the back.

Danny swam away in the air, surprised to hear an almost inhuman screech pass Vlad's fanged teeth. The older half-ghost was suspended in the air for approximately three full seconds, enduring a life time of pain with just one shot. Purple fiery tendrils of electricity licked across the ghost's form, disappearing and reappearing in its course of pain while the halfa coiled into himself, his scream gone mute, and began to plummet.

"One ghost down, another to go!" Jack yelled triumphantly.

Danny stared; transfixed by the sight as a smoking Vlad collided with the ground. His collision picked up a haze of dry dirt and obscured the ghost's boy's vision of Vlad.

Danny was surprised. He has rarely seen any of Jack's inventions ever cause so much harm in only one shot. It was scary. Jack was over doing it with his inventions, or he had made a mistake in his work. Either way, Danny had wormed his way out of Vlad's grasp, and from the looks of it, Vlad wasn't about to rebut very soon.

Before Danny could quickly check if Vlad was okay, living, dead, or unconscious, he heard the warning sounds of a heating gun being aimed at him. Danny quickly darted higher into the air and turned his ghostly tail to flee. A rush of wind passed by him, hot with electricity- indicating that Danny had just dodged a terrible attack.

Wordlessly, Danny was very glad that his father usually had bad aim.

While he fled, Danny could hear his father curse his existence.

"Just you wait, ghost boy! I'll catch you soon and tear you apart molecule by molecule!"

The ghost boy pretended to ignore Jack when he threatened to kill him on a timely basis. He doesn't try to let the words sink in, but now and then he waged a secret war between self pity and reason. His father didn't know who he was; surely that was enough to reassure him that those words meant nothing to him.

But still… he was Danny Phantom too, and he had feelings.

Sighing, the ghost boy darted further across Amity Park until he found a secure place to reside. There, he landed safely in the confined corners of an alley and changed his ghostly form back to the unsuspected teenager, Danny Fenton.

_Life's unfair_…

He had to deal with being a hero, a teen, a vigilante, and a son. It was hard sometimes to maintain a form of normalcy in his life, between switching his identities and putting aside his health for others. It was unfair… but…

There are a lot of other people out there that have lives worse than him. He could be Vlad; A hopelessly rich, hopelessly single, and a hopelessly messed up hybrid with a one track mind.

Danny winced and went to check the side of his waist for any signs of the recent battle against his arch nemesis. There was some bruising on his waist and quiet possibly on his left shoulder blade since he noticed a dull ache there.

There was no time to complain about his current state, instead, Danny started out of the alley and made his way back to the park hurriedly to find out if his Dad was okay and… in a small way, if Vlad was still kicking.

**DP**

Deep within the endless abyss of the Ghost Zone, a sinewy looking creature sat up straight and snorted distastefully.

It rose from its slumber and raised two pure black hands to it's forehead to rub at its eye sockets that appeared to have no eyes in them. Around it was a dreary old forest that could be easily compared to the forests found in the stories of the Grimm brothers. But it had a slight alteration to it… Some forms and shapes appeared to resemble house hold appliances. Take the object that the figure was sitting on. It was roots sewed together and resembled something like a hammock.

The genderless figure made a few more noises that consisted of waking up before one of its hands reached into its tattered excuse for black clothing and produced two white balls. After some grumbling the creature popped one of the white balls into its empty socket. The moment the eye rolled around within the cracked eye socket the eye flickered a natural scarlet red. It kept the other eye grasped within its sickly thin digits while flexing its muscles gently in its socket.

Before long, the ghost could see and its grumbles grew louder in volume as it pulled itself up onto slender burnt like legs and trudged across its den. Black roots coiled away from the figure as it moved across the room slowly.

"What's going on?" It croaked while a black tongue stretched out from its mouth to lick its parched lips.

"What woke me up?" It growled again as nothing seemed to respond to its question.

Irritated, the being stretched a hand up and appeared to grab something from the veil of charred black branches over its head. There was a snorting disturbance from above and a short fit of discomfort as something hiding within the low ridding pattern of branches woke up resentfully.

"Hrrehhrr…" A ghostly gray being poked his head out from the shelter of branches, along with coils of white and gray hairs. The blackened creature sneered up at the heartless doll that it had created and hissed slowly.

"Find out what's going on… One of my spells has gone slack…" it ordered and held out its unused eye for the pale ghost to take. There was a moment of hesitation, before the ghost moaned miserably and accepted the eye, and sank down from the niche in the so-called ceiling.

He fiddled with the eye, looking unsure before he raised the eye to his chest. Where there should be a layer of firm dead gray skin, there was an empty void. It appeared black and limitless, as if what had once been there had been large- very large. He plopped the eye within the dark void, and it disappeared for a moment or so before it rose to the middle of the void and looked out forlornly at the ebony being.

Once sure that the eye had scoped out its new confines of the ghost's chest, the morbid ghost quietly took flight, taking his leave through the ceiling and grumbling as he did so.

The black thin being muttered something incoherent as it stalked over to what looked like a series of shattered mirrors hung in the vines of rotting branches and looked into one at its reflection.

The limbs sometimes cracked loudly when it moved and flecks of caked skin peeled back, only to show more obsidian skin beneath them. Its chest, however, was guarded with a well polished breast plate. Flat and curved down to its abdomen, reflecting what little light that filtered into the ghost zone. The creature looked like a burnt human with one eye. Pathetic strands of dead hair lingered over the figure's scalp, indicating that it once had hair. But that was long ago…

It sneered at its wretched appearance in the broken mirror, feeling all the more annoyed for waking up to see it. Nevertheless, it was up with a reason; and an important one too…

Something has happened, and one of its curses has disappeared.

Whatever it was, the creature was not pleased with being so easily woken.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**AN:** Okay! I give in... I don't have the story completely written… but I'm thinking I'll just submit something once every two weeks or something…

**Thanks to:** DPshadow, LuvrOfAnime, Arin, Walkingfrog, Aseret Kitsune, ContradictoryOrien, Life-Light, Salaii, HitokiriKurisuta, Deathwish, passionateartist, Miss Kelly Elizabeth, Gothgrrl13, Fentonfan. And Kurachika (for being an awesome beta! Ur… although I wish I had been able to contact you more often / ) Thank you all for (possibly) putting up with me.


	3. Surprising Mornings

Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Chapter 2**

**Surprising Mornings**

Amazingly, Vlad was alive. He didn't think that was the case for a while when his body came in contact with the ground. For a little bit, Vlad presumed he just lost the remaining living half of him, but then he started to hurt- which proved that he had to be alive to feel it. Every muscle in his body felt bruised and flayed- like he had just attempted to walk through flames in his human form. He couldn't figure out what had just happened to him when consciousness quickly arrived and it took him another moment to realize why he was lying on the ground feeling tortured.

The billionaire groaned, letting his eyes roll lethargically under his closed eyelids, silently cursing Jack's existence as he always did when things went wrong. It had occurred to him that he had a brief fit of unconsciousness, and his wake up call was the sound of two heavy footsteps scrambling their way towards his crash site.

The dust of his impact had settled around him and onto his black suit. It took him a second to register that he was back in his human form, battered and worn out. The faint voice of a familiar fat oaf came to his attention. Thinking quickly, despite the pain that ran through every inch of his body, Vlad managed to scramble up to his feet and shed his human form to his pale skinned vampiric alternative.

And just in time too. Seconds after turning invisible, Jack was standing over him with his gun pointed at what appeared to be nothing but a crash site. Vlad bitterly glowered at the ghost hunter, knowing all too well that Jack couldn't see him. As predicted, Jack lowered his weapon, looking like a gorilla that lost his banana.

"That's funny… it got away."

Funny? Vlad sneered and winced at the same time while wavering precariously between wakefulness and painful sleep. Why would it be _Funny _that '_it got away_'? Whatever the reason was, it would have to wait while Vlad rose into the air, making the gap between himself and Jack larger. That gun- in Jack's hands- it was still smoking proudly with a stem of pale steam rising from its barrel.

Plasmius's eyes burned furiously as he watched the ignorant ghost hunter look around himself, as if expecting to see an injured ghost crawling away.

How could someone so idiotic-

-so insufferable!

-so pathetic!

-so intolerable like Jack Fenton manage to sucker punch him with a gun? Better yet, how could such a fool earn the affections of Maddie while at the same time ruining his chances for a normal life!?

That was one question he has never been able to answer, and when Vlad couldn't solve problems, he got temperamental; more than temperamental- _homicidal_. His immediate mood and physical anguish demanded vendetta. The half ghost's hand radiated with an ominous power as he glowered at the ghost hunter. He could kill him- kill him now… Just one swift blow to his temple and his mind would cease to function.

However, as he raised his hand and prepared to phase into visibility and snuff out Jack's existence, a young voice chirped off from the distance, urgently calling for assistance.

"Dad! What happened?"

Daniel came running around the corner of a building- obviously out of breath- hurriedly jogging towards his father. Jack lowered his weapon from his shoulder and foolishly grinned to his only son. Vlad felt tempted to gag if he wasn't already aware of his body's wish to collapse. Gagging would only encourage him to heave what little food was in his stomach.

"I saw you shooting a ghost out from the sky-" Danny gasped as he tried to catch his breath. Vlad could tell that their fight had certainly taken a number on the boy's stamina. The half ghost jeered silently- then winced again.

"-what was that you were using to shoot that ghost?" Daniel continued while emphasizing wonder in his voice, like any other astounded son should.

"I could hear the scream from where I was."

Did he yell? Vlad narrowed his eyes. Daniel was a good liar after all. The teen looked around himself, he must have been aware of the potential that he was still here. The boy was right.

Vlad lowered his arm and grimaced bitterly. He couldn't attack now. Not with Daniel acting as his dear father's ghostly angel. Knowing that the boy would undoubtedly catch sight of him before he could attack, it would be fruitless…

And his body… he felt like there were weights hanging from every one of his limbs. He couldn't fight Danny Phantom like this- even if the boy looked worn out already.

Blast… what was that weapon?! Vlad has seen the end of Jack's infernal barrels to various weapons more than once, but none of them ever left him feeling so… wasted. He had to retreat. Daniel paused to look directly where he hovered and glared at the air briefly before Jack suddenly fell into a long explanation of how he sucker punched the Wisconsin ghost out from the sky.

"It's my newest invention! I call it the 'Ghost Minor'" Jack propped up the gun up proudly like a trophy in one hand. Vlad sneered as he turned away, quickly taking his leave before Daniel decided to yell 'ghost!' and point directly at him. Even if he was invisible- knowing Jack, Danny could get away with saying he had a 'feeling' that the ghost was there.

"It was supposed to stun ghosts and…"

Vlad eventually fell out of ear shot- not that he really cared… His powers were just barely keeping him aloft and invisible as he made his way hastily to the faster route to his home through a certain ghost portal.

As he slipped into the ghost zone, Vlad noticed that his condition wasn't changing… Usually in his ghost form, his stamina would return to him slowly- but fast enough for him to notice the changes of his strength. Just five minutes of rest, and like an athlete, he knew he would be able to keep running for a good while again.

Yet, as he continued his way home, he noticed no change- no recovery… just more and more weariness.

**DP**

"It's my newest invention! I call it the 'Ghost Minor'." Jack answered Danny, and the teen merely looked at the gun suspiciously before his eyes strayed to the desolated remains of where Vlad Plasmius had crash landed.

That scream… it was so strange. He had never expected to hear such a sound when Plasmius was struck by his dad's newest ghost hunting gun. Danny shuddered and cast one last look around him before Jack continued to answer his questions.

"It was suppose to stun ghosts and knock 'em out like a light while sapping their energy long enough to make them easy to catch," Jack was grinning quite confidently as he described his ideal weapon, but his smile soon ebbed as he looked at his gun sympathetically.

"…It didn't work though."

"What do you mean?" Danny started as his ghost senses settled down calmly.

"Well there's no ghost here- so the ghost wasn't stunned. Not for a very long at least…" Jack said while he raised a hand to his brow and scratched at the top of his head vexingly.

"But it says here," Jack lowered the gun to his son's height, tilted the instrument to one side and pointed to what looked like a monitor that was eerily glowing. Danny took a step back for his own safety. While tapping the side of the monitor with a gloved finger, Jack continued to explain. "It sapped more than fifty percent of the ghosts energy."

"And… it's stored in there?" Danny said, slowly adding the pieces together in his mind while picturing Plasmius in a rather beaten state.

"Bingo!" And to further describe his point, Danny's dad unhinged a latch with the press of a button on the barrel of the gun, letting what appeared to be a thermos sized canister slide out from the handle of the gun like an empty cartilage of ammo which he caught in one hand.

"Yep! This baby should have enough power to keep ten houses running for a year on ecto-energy! Maybe more!"

Danny could see swirls of purple and pink energy radiate from within the clear cylindrical item. He could also notice that it was steaming hot and his father was having trouble keeping a hold of it. However, his father didn't detect anything until he could smell burnt spandex.

"H-hot hot hot!" Jack fumbled the frail looking container into the air.

"Watch it!" Instinctively, Daniel lunged forward and caught the container despite the heat. If his dad was right about this, his newest invention had just compressed a lot of Vlad's energy into this small canister. If it were to fall and break open…

"Close one, there!" Jack said, looking not the least bit worried that he and his son could have become smears on the ground just now.

Daniel carefully juggled the canister until he was capable of placing it down on the ground and then proceeded to fan his stinging fingers.

"Um, Dad, don't you think that's a little dangerous?"

"Only if you break it." He grinned. Of course.

"Then what are you going to do with it?" Danny arched a brow slowly. He couldn't help but imagine how terrible it would feel getting shot by that gun.

"Well for now, I've got to figure out how to convert this ecto-energy into something we can use. Until then, it can make for a good night light!"

Danny smiled uneasily at his fathers light humor, even though he had a good idea that he was serious about the night-light suggestion. At least from what Danny could tell, Vlad won't be up to par for a while until he recovers all of that stolen energy.

And in the mean time, Danny could resume trying to untangle his frustrating life.

He hoped.

**DP**

Vlad reached his domain by nightfall, and during his slow return, he had decided to put off his research into the degrading weapon known as the 'Ghost Minor' to take a well deserved shower and moments rest. However, his decision altered again by the time he reached his room. Sleeping away his aches and pains sounded like a good idea.

He phased into his room and let his ghostly form disappear beneath two black rings. The billionaire then hastily discarded articles of his clothing and replaced them with formal night wear before crawling under the sheets of a king sized bed.

Out of disappointment, the idea of getting too old occurred to Vlad as he felt welts of pain along his back and side while he shifted in his preparations for sleep. Damn bitter irony!

He wasn't aging; he thought as he winced his eyes close and rested his head down. He hasn't been aging very much for the past twenty-two years. No one has noticed, to his favor, although that didn't seem very important to him now.

His hair, he knew, had turned surprisingly white and gray the day he had lost his normal life. His favored hair style adapted, and with his usual strenuous work as a half ghost, he had gained a stronger physique since his collage years. Dramatically, though, his ghost form actually had a dozen more pounds of physical strength in comparison to his human half.

His ghost powers had also grown in the years that he lived. But nothing else has changed. Thankfully due to his hair color, and lack of sleep, Vlad had managed to make himself resemble an older male- which helped to avoid suspicion on the press, and Maddie's too.

_Maddie_… Vlad's eyes snapped open.

He felt something ache within his chest.

This was a frequent occurrence that happened when the mere thought of Maddie entered his mind. They were the thoughts that usually compelled him to hate Jack for stealing her away from him. It made his heart tighten with anguish, and the thoughts of how much Maddie would never accept him as this half-ghost only made his heart shudder with despair. It was a mandatory sensation, but he never paid any mind to it because it always faded in less than a minute. Normally, it was just a soft pang that reminded him that he still hadn't accomplished winning Maddie's heart…

But this time, it felt much worse.

Tonight he could feel as though something was constricting his chest with ice tipped claws, and it pained him to even picture Maddie and how hopelessly in love she was with that fat idiot, Jack.

This time, Vlad realized, that his heart wasn't just aching…

It was breaking.

He sat up abruptly, feeling the pains of his physical body mingle with his heart's agony and frowned. All these years, he had been in love with her and had never felt this wash of mislay. He couldn't even remember a time were he felt so foolish. But why was it happening now? Why hadn't it happened twenty two years ago in a hospital bed with a face full of ecto acne?

_Why now?_

Vlad grimaced and closed his eyes, feeling the unnatural wash of iciness spread over his shoulders, causing them to shudder slightly.

What was going on? He forced his shoulders to stop shaking, and feverishly strained the feeling of despair from creeping up to his throat. This wasn't normal. His morbid thoughts of Maddie never made his heart shudder so violently, yet now he couldn't even bear to think of her without feeling an overwhelming need to sulk, or -dare he consider it-… cry.

_Why? _

He raised a pale hand to his chest, feeling his heart's steady beat pump ghost and human blood throughout his sore body. As he did, he noticed the fragile pull of misused muscles complain to the movement and sighed despairingly.

It had to be this miserable day, he thought. That ignorant child, Danny, and his egotistical father. For once, maybe, his heart was beginning to give out against the strenuous missions he puts on it everyday. He had never felt so worthless at that very moment, which encouraged a bitter grin to spread across his pale face as he realized the irony of his thoughts. A worthless rich man...

He couldn't shake this feeling off from him, yet the need for sleep was waging a war with his need to mope and to his reluctance, he found sleep was winning. So very slowly, Vlad solemnly rested back under the refuge of his covers and fell to sleep.

**DP**

Morning welcomed Vlad with a cold breeze from the open balcony leading from his room. He woke to find his eyes feeling extraordinarily red around the corners as he curled up securely beneath his beds blankets. He didn't have to rub the heels of his palms into his eyes to know that he had somehow managed to cry in his sleep. But he rubbed them anyways, feeling ignored by the usual warm rays of the morning.

His head throbbed- maybe more than it did last night- and his body ached with stiff joints as he carefully flexed his waking limbs. Vlad made no attempt to get out of bed for approximately fifteen minutes. At that point the hybrid concluded that he wasn't going to fall back to sleep, his body wouldn't let him. There were obvious reasons, but then there were some that he couldn't quite figure out yet.

_Curse Jack Fenton and his infernal contraption,_ he found himself mentally muttering while he growled into a silk embroidered pillow. That was strange… Vlad shifted his head to one side and with his eyes half closed he looked around his room. That growl… It wasn't right… It was somehow different. It just didn't sound like it was his voice.

_Probably hoarse…_ Vlad's brows knitted together as he turned beneath the covers of the large bed. He couldn't explain why his throat could possibly hurt, but he decided to blame it on Jack, as he does most times when things go wrong. He didn't care… Vlad's thoughts were directed more to the cold, figurative hand that clutched at his chest. It hurt, and it wasn't just an ordinary punch to the chest, or a blast from an experimental gun. It was a sort of pain that didn't heal like a bruise should.

Grimacing, Vlad pulled himself up after his body screamed for something comforting and warm. Not this bed; a shower.

The sensation of feeling out of place didn't leave him when he pulled himself out from his bed, and with some determination, headed to his richly decorated bathroom to admire a hot shower. While he did, he noticed that his night garments felt unusually loose around his shoulders and hips.

At first, he didn't bother to care about the faint acknowledgment until his flannel pajama pants were at his ankles after the fourth step into the bathroom.

_It is too early in the morning to take this into consideration… Just blame Jack somehow._ With that pushed aside, Vlad merely went to the shower and discarded his top not far from where his pants had fallen loose from his waist.

The billionaire had hoped that a warm shower would dull the aching impression throughout his body. It worked a little; his head ache faded, and his muscles didn't feel so stiff. But he still couldn't help but think that something was extraordinarily out of place.

He found himself unable to put his tongue on it, but he knew that they were little things… The way he sighed, the perspectives around him, the way he walked- small things, yet all of these small things seemed to accumulate like the vapor fogging the long glass mirrors over the bathroom sink.

Just as he was about to retrieve a smaller towel from a rack to dry his discolored white and grey hair, Vlad caught his blurred movement in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

Odd…

Frustrated that he couldn't quiet pinpoint what was bothering him with seeing his foggy complexion, he leaned over the sink and used the towel to wipe down the mirror. Once he had cleared enough, Vlad stepped back to get a better look at the mirror…

"…" tired still, Vlad squinted for a moment, wondering if perhaps he had some water in his eyes. Nope… They were fine. Then why did he look so diff…

Vlad's eyes grew wide.

"OH FF-" Vlad jolted backwards while his hands rose to his face, swiftly grasping at tendrils of silver grey hair.

"My face!" His hands prodded along his cheek bone which was no longer well defined. They ran down his chin and he squeaked a little as he felt nothing but smooth pale skin beneath his nails. His goatee was gone!

"M-my body!" His jaw had fallen open while his eyes darted down from his reflection to ogle at his bare waist. He was slim- as he always was, but his chest now lacked muscle that was previously there the day before. He even looked at his hands to see that they appeared softer- younger even.

"Wha-…" Vlad stepped backwards slowly, a horror story written across his face as his dark ice blue eyes stared back into an astonished reflection of…

Of who?!

"That's not me!" He exclaimed, although knowing that talking out loud to his own reflection has always been a bad way to announce ones sanity. Trying to prove himself that he was fine- that he was dreaming- no- that he was just having a terrible nightmare, Vlad ran his fingers through his hair laboriously, tugging single strands to see if it hurt. It did- but he still couldn't believe it.

He resorted to pinching his arm. That hurt too.

He took a double take to his waist and without thinking he discarded the towel to the bathroom floor. For a second there, Vlad seemed a tiny bit relieved that he couldn't see much change below the waist. However, that didn't stop him from further freaking out.

"H-how could this be possible!?" He said as he gradually took a few steps further away from the mirror.

Vlad's mind reeled with small, irregular ideas, trying to figure out how he could be staring at stranger in the mirror. His mind tore through each irrational excuse after another until it nearly collided with the single and only possible excuse to his sudden change.

Jack.

Jack Fenton and his blasted ghost gun!

Figuring this out didn't seem to help quell the panic rising from his chest. On the contrary, it only helped fill the growing bubble of horror from inside his torso. If anything had to do with Jack, it had to be ghosts, and Vlad was only half. If his attack had affected his human half, then what did it do the ghost portion of him?

To find out, he willed two rings to form around his waist. To his gratitude, they appeared, but his relief didn't last long when he looked up at his reflection at his sickly pale ghost form.

His mouth fell slack as he raised his black gloved hands. His blood red eyes darted down his lean figure, each second they grew wider in repulsion. The halfa lost his voice as his eyes followed the movement of his reflection, gapping at his altered… younger appearance. His voice only seemed to catch up with him when fury enveloped his eyes.

"CURSE YOU JACK FENTON!"

**DP**

"Did you hear something, hun?" Jack raised his head up from busily configuring his newest invention. He sat within the Fenton living room, his large gun sitting on his lap with half of its shell discarded on the sofa next to him. Maddie walked in from the kitchen, looking as beautiful as ever in her black and blue jumpsuit, holding two cups of coffee. One for herself, and the other for Jack.

"I think Danny has fallen out of bed again," said Maddie, adding a sigh at the end of her sentence while he placed Jack's drink on a coaster on the coffee table.

There was another noise from upstairs, coming from Danny's room. Both Jack and Maddie paused as they heard another crashing noise, that didn't sound anything like someone falling out of bed.

"I'll go check on him." Maddie said with a sweet smile across her features, hiding her thoughts of concern for what was happening up in Danny's room. With that, she started upstairs.

Meanwhile, Danny was having a terrible time with waking up to see a slimy three-eyed ghost giggling at him impishly. Why couldn't he have a normal wake up call that consisted of staying in bed for another five minutes? Not this blob like ghost, pretending to be an alarm clock by making subtle ringing noises. Danny's alarm clock, by the way, was currently unplugged, thanks to that ghost.

The scuffle between Danny Phantom and his irritable wake-up-caller ended just in time when Danny sealed the Fenton thermos that he hid under his bed at night. A soft knock resounded from the door.

"Honey, is everything okay in there?" Maddie's concerned voice spoke up from behind the door. "This has been the second time this week…" She said, leaving and air of question in her voice while Danny scrambled to toss the Thermos under his bed.

"Yes, Mom, everything's okay... uh… I was sleep walking again and… um, tripped... Again," he lied, knowing thankfully that Maddie couldn't see his undecided expression through the door.

There was a pause before he heard his mother's response. "All right, Danny. Better come down for breakfast soon. We don't want you late for school again, okay?" With that, Danny's mother turned away and started back down after hearing a short 'yes' from Danny as he scrambled around his room to remove his p-jays and pull on one of his t-shirts and jeans.

Danny Fenton came downstairs in less than five minutes after he had dressed, phased down to the basement, released the annoying ghoul into the Ghost Zone, and returned back to his bed room to leave properly like a normal human should.

He was about to make his way into the kitchen when he spotted the eerie purple canister from yesterday sitting on the coffee table in the living room. Not far from that, situated on the couch was Jack pouring his concentration into working with his newest weapon to notice his son slip by and into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Jack, I think you'd better place this ecto-container somewhere safe. It was giving off readings of activity this morning." Danny could hear Maddie's voice from within the living as he made his breakfast. "As if it was trying to send out a signal."

"Nonsense, Maddie! It's probably just residue from that putrid ghost creep. The ecto energy wants to return to its host." Knowing Jack, Danny could picture his father gesture throughout his response.

Frowning, Danny went to butter a slice of toast. He didn't give his Dad the credit that he deserved when it came to ghost knowledge, but he couldn't just expect to think that his father's statements were true.

"But Jack…" Danny could hear his mom sigh doubtfully. "These readings aren't in sync with the Wisconsin ghost. It almost looks as though it's contaminated."

Danny stopped in mid action of biting into his jam smeared breakfast.

"Hm, maybe I'll take a look into that. But you gotta admit! Its makes a nice lamp!"

"You have a point… but I want that put in something sturdy, okay?"

"You got it, baby cakes!"

Danny hesitantly gulped down his meal and silently got up to leave, feeling a little bit more worried about yesterday's events. After all, Danny was near Vlad when he was struck by that attack. Frowning uncertainly, Danny turned and started out of his home to school.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**Thanks for the great reviews: **Strawberry Nya, Vinilli, ContradictoryOrien, Ruthus, Xelena, Tid-dyed Trickster, Raven-loves-Sanji, and ffnetlover**. It's always such a joy getting feedback from all of you!**


	4. Vincent Morgens

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Chapter 3**

**Vincent Morgens **

The more Vlad looked at his human reflection, the more he realized how different he was. He had long since reverted back to his human form so that he may avoid staring back at a pitiful excuse for the infamous evil ghost, Plasmius, but that didn't change the fact that so much had changed. At least he could bear to stare back at what appeared to be a younger version of his human self….

Younger, _and_ weaker.

If there was one thing that he cared for, it was his powers… and Maddie- He added with a brief thought of anguish. As much has he hated his ghost half when he had lost his chances with Maddie, he still had found a growing intimacy for his ghostly strengths. And just like being a billionaire in the human world, his ghostly self had reigned as a tyrant over the realms in the Ghost Zone.

How can he resume his role as a tyrant now?

Now look at him- Vlad stared forlornly at a pubescent child, possibly of the age of sixteen or seventeen that mimicked his grim expression with a youthful face.

He still couldn't believe it was him staring back with a pair of dejected azure eyes.

Jack Fenton's newest device had some how managed to zap not only his powers, but his age. Or- if Vlad wanted to be technical, Jack's horrid new invention had taken his age, and along with it, his strengths he gained while becoming older. Least that was what he could gather.

He was scrawny, to some effect. He was never built for sports, even if he loved them so much, but just looking at himself in a towel, he was only reminded of a certain young ignorant little ghost-boy.

"Drat!" He hissed through his teeth as he recollected the raven-haired goodie-goodie with his fragile body being flung aside with the most simplest of his powers. Vlad made his way to the bathroom sink, now glaring out at the mirror before he leaned over to get a better look.

_I need to fix this_, he thought as he raised a slender hand to his chin and felt his fingers run across his less-defined jaw and scowled. If someone saw him now, someone would surely scream. After all- he looked like a complete stranger residing in a billionaire's home.

Speaking of which, Vlad had forgotten to close the door to the bathroom…

"AAHIIEE!"

A shrill high voice jerked Vlad's attention from his teenage mirror image to see one of the few human maids within his castle scream at the sight of a nameless intruder wearing all but a towel.

She had dropped her clean bed spread when she stepped into the vacant bedroom and spotted a nameless kid stare back dumbly from the bathroom. After she had finished her scream of surprise, her lips formed a curt frown as she looked at the child nervously

"I don't know who you are…Or what you are doing here, but if you don't explain yourself right now, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Vlad spat when he realized that he was being warned by a house cleaner. He basically owned her, _how dare she find authority to belittle me_. The maid withdrew insecurely, heading backwards for the door to escape the glower from the venomous teen.

"Get out of here at once!" He ordered, and to his comfort, the maid was so frightened that she bolted from the room. The element of surprise no doubt helped Vlad scare her, otherwise, she might have had the nerve to try and yank at his ear and lecture him for disrespecting his 'elders'. Vlad shuddered.

It then occurred to him that he was possibly in some more serious trouble now. She was probably going to inform the security and in another few minutes he would be arrested for trespassing in his own home.

Vlad's momentary comfort in scaring the maid had suddenly died as he recognized that he wasn't going to be able to stay at his own home to deal with his dilemma.

He had to go right to the source of his problem.

The Fentons.

Vlad had to find Jack. And he had to find a way to reverse what has happened. Surely, if one of Jack's stupid inventions could do this to him, he could find a way to make a weapon that did the opposite.

But now that he had a maid alerting the authorities of a mysterious teen within the Masters bed chambers, he had to hurry up.

Vlad already began to make his way from his bathroom, sighing bitterly as he went to his wardrobe closet. He already began to pull on a pair of black suit pants when he discovered he was a size or two small for them. He looked up fleetingly to the other selections he might have that were smaller, but soon felt his heart sink as he saw rows upon rows of the same- or similar – garments staring back at him.

"This is going to be harder than I thought…" He said, glaring at his clothing.

A few minutes later, Vlad exited his living quarters while in the process of rolling up his sleeves a few times so that at least his fingers were visible. Thankfully, he always wore a belt, and this time, it came in handy. His shoes didn't fit him very well, and his heels flopped out of them constantly, so to keep his shoes from falling off, Vlad had tied the lace around his ankles.

Vlad didn't have long to nit pick about his oversized clothing before he heard the sound of footsteps quickly stomp down the hall and the cleaning maid's shrill voice quickly notifying the guards that the intruder was last seen in Vlad's bed chamber.

Quickly, and reluctantly, Vlad resumed his ghostly form and phased out of sight just before a number of figures and a frighteningly determined looking maid came around the corner.

He didn't have much time to stay here. A ghost might spot him, just as that maid had done. But unlike a human, a ghost wouldn't run away. If it was Skulker, he would already be in one of his infernal nets and being dragged off to the Ghost Zone to be made into a lovely door mat.

The young Masters had a series of things planned out already for himself. It didn't take long, after all, when his choice of actions were so very limited.

One part of his plan involved getting to Amity Park. But taking the Ghost route was off limits. Having witnessed his ghost-like form, he couldn't risk having any other ghosts spot him, not even the box ghost. His authority as a ghost would pop like a balloon if any one spotted him in this state.

And Vlad did have a good share of enemies in the Ghost realm that only dream of a day when they have the chance to strangle him. This happens to be one of those chances and Vlad was planning to let them keep dreaming.

Another one of his plans were to find a means of transportation to Amity Park without the passport that resembled him. At least in the human world, he could use Plasmius to get through the annoying details. But first of all…

Vlad phased his way through the floor and started for the secret vault hidden within his private study.

Social reassurance. No human can live without money, which was very easy to understand why, and Vlad was not going to leave his home without at least fifty grand or more in a travel pack. Who knows how long this affair might be, thought Vlad as he found a small vault sitting behind a painting of himself, looking positively malevolent.

It didn't take long for him to stash his desired quantity of money within a travel pack that was conveniently hung within the vault. Vlad had just closed the vault door before he heard a small sound of footsteps running about in his castle, apparently searching for the intruder.

With a short curse relating to a sweet pastry, the young Vlad Plasmius slung his small, half filled pack over one shoulders and started for the way out as a ghost would; invisible.

**DP**

It didn't take long for Vlad to soon come to grips with reality that no one would ever believe that he was Wisconsin's billionaire, Vlad Masters. He had only to catch his reflection in the glass windows of a clothing shop to know that he had no real identity any more.

He didn't even look like a reasonably normal teen with the attire he wore either. Which brings him to the reason why he was standing before the open doors of the Wisconsin airport clothing shop.

He was tired and irritated about how little stamina he had, and after traveling so far in his ghost form, Vlad's less-than-capable form had shuddered at the mere idea of taking a three to four day travel to Amity Park in this body alone. As much as he would like to avoid human contact, Vlad knew that he would find a few resources for himself while within this building, and an easier, faster means of transportation.

But before that, Vlad studied his appearance in a passing mirror as he stepped into the clothing store and scowled disapprovingly at his own attire. He needed to find some clothing that fitted him properly. It would not only avoid suspicion from judgmental adults, but also make it far more comfortable for Vlad. The heels of his feet were gaining a rash due to the constant friction against his loose shoes.

After a quick study over the selection of clothing, Vlad picked out a few sets of clothing and disdainfully retreated into a changing room to see if he was buying the right size for himself.

Moments after buttoning the silk black suit up over his shoulders and adjusting his tie, Vlad looked up at the image portrayed within the mirror of the stall and frowned. He hadn't realized that he had left his hair in an unsettled silver mess over his dark circled eyes. After a quick fidget of holding his hair back with one hand, Vlad took another look into the mirror.

Vlad frowned again.

He didn't like this. Certainly it was comfortable as any other business suit attire might be, but he didn't look the same. His body wasn't as well defined as Vlad Masters. Now he was just staring out at a teen that looked as though he was trying to resemble someone rich for Halloween.

A short change later, Vlad had exited the changing room with the intent to look for something else within the store that would suit… a teenager.

Vlad wandered through the selections of typical adult male clothing, then switched to the sports, and soon resorted to the teen selections in general. All the while, Vlad was beginning to feel even more degraded when he attempted to try something else on, such as sleek black loafers- which he had nearly kicked off after seeing how much he disliked them. Odd- he would wear those any day at home.

Seven tries later that involved clothing from vests and cufflink undershirts, to jock jackets and plaid blouses, Vlad had finally stepped out of from the changing room, satisfied with his selection of clothing. And to his pleasure, he didn't gain any odd looks with the new selections he had picked out.

Well, he did get an odd look from the cashier when he produced a roll of twenties from his travel pack to pay the man. But that was to be expected.

Vlad had thought about stealing the clothing, since it would have been terribly easy to do so, but decided against it because he wasn't worth the effort. Besides, he stole things that were important. Not _clothing._

Vlad had often been a stickler for odd colors, but when it came to wearing anything, it was always in shades of black white and a little bit of red. His top happened to be a good example of that. It was a black t-shirt with a white collar and a matching vertical line that dragged down from the left of his collar and down the side of his shirt.

It wasn't too plain so it didn't give many people the idea that Vlad was drastically thin, and it wasn't showy enough to grab unwanted attention. As for pants, Vlad hadn't realized that he had picked out jeans until he had already bought them. If he had known, he would have never even touched them, but since they were already paid for, Vlad now wore plain light blue jeans that fitted his waist perfectly and tented out from the knees down.

Vlad wasn't very particular about the shoes, but he soon gave up with the selections that he had and choose a pair of navy all-star classics.

Since he felt properly clothed and presentable now, Vlad looked to the ticket station. There were some endearing things at hand that had to be done. But fortunately, Vlad knew his ghost form would be able to literally phase through all the technical difficulties.

Young Vlad Masters approached the ticket station patiently and waited in the back of the line quietly. Once it was his turn, Vlad managed to display one of his pleasant fake smiles that he often gave to Jack, or any other ignorant fool that he intended to trick.

The man behind the front desk raised a brow slowly as he watched the teen.

Naturally, Vlad wasn't aware that most teens don't tend to smile unless they really wanted too, or were forced.

"Hello there." Vlad said, smiling.

"Uh… Hi, how may I help you?"

**DP**

Five minutes later, Vlad was walking away with a first class ticket to the nearest large city of Amity Park and a decent smirk across his face.

Sometimes he felt like he was cheating in a game when it comes to using his ghost abilities to overshadow people. Vlad was sure he could have also bribed the man into ignoring manual detail, but he wanted to find out how much skill he had left in this young body of his, so it was worth the try.

Now all he had to do was wait and when it comes to showing his non-existent passport, Vlad knew his ghostly powers would be able to take care of that. But in the meantime, Vlad quietly lugged over to an internet café within the airport, carrying his now packed-tight travel bag over one shoulder. People mingled about the open coffee shop and Vlad carefully joined them, failing to hide the highly annoyed expression on his face as he somehow felt like a commoner.

With the change he had buying his clothing, Vlad bought himself coffee, which he instantly regretted, and later resorted to something less strong and settled for a cup of tea. While he sipped, Vlad retired to a seat at the café and started to surf the internet for an online enrollment into Casper High.

Grade? Vlad typed ten.

Gender? Male.

Age? The teen hesitated to wonder, then cautiously wrote down sixteen.

Past Education? At this, Vlad smirked crudely and decided not to add the fact that he has already been through university and high school. Post grade ten education.

Medical Conditions? Not unless counting his lack of age. Vlad wrote down 'none'.

Name? Vlad was already half way done writing his full name, _Vladimir Mas-_, when he deleted it and chewed down on his lower lip. He couldn't walk around using that name. He was no longer _Vlad Masters._ He didn't look like a forty year old billionaire and he couldn't just waltz around using his name when the real Vlad Masters has disappeared off the face of the earth. No, if he was going to walk around looking like this he would have to be called something else.

The nameless silver haired teen stared at the computer. The underscore blinked patiently in the small bar where his name was to be entered.

Hesitantly, the teen placed his fingers over the keyboard and wrote down his new identity…

**DP**

A heartless ghost sailed throughout the ghost zone, complaining to himself in moans and whines as it spiraled through the air.

He was once known as Erik, but now he hated it so much that he preferred to be called nothing instead of it. His master's darkened eye scanned the realms miserably from the hole in his chest, trying to pick up on the signal of the shattered enchantment. It was so very hard, thought Erik as he grumbled about work.

He hated that witch so much. He hated everything about her… or him.

But poor Erik also hated everything else with an equal amount of venom. He hated the Ghost Zone and its eerie beauty, and he hated the human world and all its commotion. Nothing was perfect for him. The only reason he tolerated the Heart Thief was he, or she, had something he wanted. He hated everything except one single thing…

Only, he doesn't know what it is any more. Since his heart was stolen, he couldn't remember what it was he loved any more. Was it a girl? A child? An idea? Erik didn't know, and he hated not knowing what he wanted. It hurt him to not know, but unable to distinguish pain from hate, the ghost presumed it to be the only thing he could recognize.

So Erik continued to hate everything as he sulked through the shapeless world, occasionally feeling the eye within his chest roll, indicating that it was picking up on something. Whether or not it is the right thing, Erik would follow the eye's direction to investigate, and while he did, he hated it like everything else around him.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**A/N:** Sorry, I know it seems a bit stale. Yes, it is stretched, but for good reason. A transition from adult to teen is surprisingly hard to notice at first.

**Thanks to:** Miss Kelly Elizabeth, Tie Dyed Trickster, Raven-loves-Sanji, FernClaw, PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, ShoyMcmuffin, Retilian Goddess, ffnetlover, ContradictoryOrien, Dream's Abyss, and Esme Kali Phantom. **I hope you'll enjoy of future chapters to 'In a Heart Beat'!**


	5. Old School

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**Note Three:** Vlad's name is Vincent Morgens, for those of you that might have not caught on. It was the title of chapter 3.

**DP**

**Chapter 4**

**Old School**

It had been two days since Danny confronted his arch nemesis, and things were as they should be: an unorganized network of chaos. For the most part, Danny had spared little thought about Vlad or what his next diabolical plans were going to be. He had enough on his plate, let alone adding Plasmius into the picture with the intent to separate his parents. No, Danny Fenton had other matters to attend to; like catch up on his English homework, and protect Amity Park from its frequent threats. When he didn't catch onto any news of Vlad or any of his plans, Danny was relieved, even if he did feel a tad bit worried about the eerie pink and purple canister that was now sitting in the Fenton Lab within a secure container.

He found out through listening to his parents that the unknown traces of ghost residue didn't match any other ghosts that they have previously recorded. In other words, he was pleased to know that it had nothing to do with him or being around Vlad when he was hit. However, this unknown ecto-reading certainly piqued his interest just enough to think about it now and then.

However, now and then wasn't this morning.

The very thought of Vlad was buried deep under the piles of his adolescent concerns surrounding school and saving everyone in it one ghost at a time. He had forgotten to plug in his alarm clock the past two nights before, and it has remained under his bed since, so by this morning Danny realized that he was two minutes late for first class.

Courtesy of his ghost powers, Danny was capable of diminishing his possible late timing by three minutes while he arrived at the school grounds after darting across Amity Park in his ghost form.

He had also nearly chocked on his breakfast while going over a hundred miles an hour heading to school- but that has happened more than enough times that Danny took it in like an acceptable routine.

Get up. Late. Run. Fly. Choke. Get to school. Only this time Danny remembered to get rid of the crumbs around the corner of his lips before he dashed through the halls.

He veered to the right, intending to slide right through the doors of his first class and proclaim his reasons for being late, but by the time his weight swung around the corner and into class, he was met with human blockage.

Danny came to a crashing halt with the help of a student standing just behind the doors of his first class. Both of them toppled over and landed at Mr. Lancer's feet. Both teens also let out a startled yelp upon contact.

"… And of course, you've now met Mr. Danny Fenton."

Mr. Lancer had just finished introducing the names of each member of the class to what looked like a new student, and finished with Danny Fenton for his impeccable timing. A row of laughter rang through the classroom while students watched as Danny scramble to his feet.

"Jeeze, I'm sorry about that," Danny said to the student while one of his hands retired to his head to carefully rub the forming ache away. He stuck out his other hand to offer the student a help up to his feet. "… I was in a rush to get to class that I didn't…"

A pair of dark ice blue eyes locked on Danny's azure gaze in an unmistakable glare before it adjusted quickly to a kind, withdrawn look. Danny's outstretched hand was ignored while the student bunched his legs beneath himself and stood up.

The student answered, flashing a confident smile while he dusted off the front of is jeans tentatively. "No, no. It's quiet all right Danie-" he coughed, raising a hand to cover his mouth. "Danny," he said and managed a stiff smile.

Danny Fenton could only stare dimly at this new student while the cogs inside his brain grappled with the unlabeled wrench that was thrown into its teeth. The student had startling light silver hair that was preened back behind his ears and ended just past shoulders. The end of the student's hair curled just enough at the end to indicate that it was more frequently held up in a pony tail, but today it appeared to be let loose. It looked a little untamed.

When it occurred to him that he was staring, Danny feebly recovered his awkward stare by stooping down to pick up his back-pack and a few books that had fallen out of it in the collision.

"I will speak to you, Mister Fenton about your tardiness after class, but for now you can take your seat next to Vince since we are short a few books for this class," Mr. Lancer said as he retired himself down behind his desk.

Danny's mind snapped from slow motion as he glanced back to his seat near the back next to Sam and Tucker, and then to Vince, who already appeared to be situated in the third row next to an empty seat.

"Oh, um... right, sorry Mr.Lancer." And Danny hurried to situate himself next to the platinum haired student, Vince.

Danny couldn't figure why that at the very sight of the new student had stolen the words from his mouth and forced him to stare. In all honesty, he looked like any other normal teen, save for the odd selection of hair dye. But there was just something about him that, when Danny saw him, screamed 'surprise!' At which point, Danny had the instinctive urge to go ghost.

But he was just an ordinary student...

An ordinary student that was looking at him suspiciously while one of his brows arched down.

"-llo someone turn the lights off in there?"

"Huh,-what?" Danny straightened up and decided to focus his attention on what was being said. Vince briefly rolled his eyes skyward before letting his smile tilt at an angle. "Mr. Lancer said to open up to last night's homework for chapter four to 'The Great Gatsby'."

Danny flushed miserably- all fleeting thoughts about this new student vanished with the sudden reminder that he had spent the entire night trying to stop Young Blood from playing wack-a-mole with the local pedestrians. He hasn't even finished reading the second chapter.

Reluctantly, Danny retrieved his books and work material out from his book bag and placed them on the desk in front of him, marginally next to Vince. Mr. Lancer's drone voice began to recap the chapter's summary while Danny flipped to the page of unanswered questions. He felt slightly awkward that a new student would get a bird's eye view of how irresponsible he was when it came to homework, but like it was nothing, Vince huffed a grin and took a hold of the small book and opened its pages.

"I haven't read this in a while." He said with a glance to Danny.

**DP**

It was easy getting to Amity Park with money in his pockets and ghost powers under his belt. Vlad- correction- _Vince_ had managed to establish him a place to reside and a few false papers that were required to enroll into a school. All of that was easy, Vince had only to flash a bit money and go intangible here and there around the right people, but remembering how to be a teen was extraordinarily hard.

He didn't walk like a teen, he couldn't talk like a teen, and in all honesty, he didn't have the foggiest idea upon how to act like a teen. It all felt so foolish when he realized how different he- as an adult- was in comparison to a teenager.

To his good- or bad- fortune, the in-flight movie being played on his way to his destination was 'Mean Girls', which- after some considerable thought- concerned Vince temporarily of what he should expect in Casper High. Ultimately, Vince decided that he would try not to associate with any one besides the few that he must- typically Danny and his friends.

As for their language, Vlad had only been able to pick up the fact that females- and sometimes males- were more liable to use the word 'like' in a sentence to stall a phrase or to avoid interruption, and most teens rarely used adverbs in their sentences.

Oh, and he also concluded that English grammar had long since died, to his disappointment.

Other than the movie, the three-hour flight was dull, and it gave Vlad time to reflect upon his most recent and terrible events before him. It was at that time he remembered the prickling sensation deep within his chest and sighed quietly. How could he have been so dumb? Maddie was like the moon to him, but now it has suddenly crumbled away, turning the gentle night sky into a dark abyss.

It was hopeless now, and he knew it. But he still couldn't help but feel the smallest string of hope that still dangle before him as he headed to Amity Park.

But was it hope for Maddie to fall into his arms, or just something else? Vlad couldn't decide what his heart was thinking now. And it didn't matter. He had a more pressing objective to accomplish before solving this longing ache in his chest

Anyways, what would Maddie think if she saw him now? How would she even know who he was if she looked at this adolescent child staring back up at her? For that matter, would Daniel be able to recognize him?

Apparently not.

First literal clash on the first day of school and Vlad was proudly able to see that his change of clothing, height, weight, and basically everything had fooled young Daniel Fenton into believing he was the new student enlisting into Casper High. What did the boy have to suspect him for being Vlad Masters? After all, Vlad was twenty-some years older than Vincent Morgens.

He was a tad bit worried about his hair color, since it still deemed its startling grey and slightly white streak from the middle of his widow's crest, but Vlad refused to further mutilate his body with dye.

In any case, Vlad, or Vince, had only witnessed one moment when Danny had gotten up to his feet and took a good hard look at his ice blue eyes. Vlad had recognized familiarity in them, and for a fleeting second he had feared that his cover was already blown.

But then Danny glanced away, brushing aside the familiarity as nothing but a coincidence, Vlad felt the tight strain of anxiety lift from his chest. _Let's hope he doesn't notice any more coincidences about young Vince_, thought Vlad with a grimace.

In the mean time, Vlad waited patiently for his chance to 'get to know' Danny, but as class went by, Vlad felt suddenly drawn into reading The Great Gatsby, since Danny hadn't touched the book with the effort to read it. It wasn't intentional, but Vlad knew that if he tried too hard in befriending the teen, Daniel might begin to suspect alternative motives.

"You've read this before?" Danny asked after he had let it slip that he had indeed read the famous American novel before.

"Of course, who hasn't?"

"About the entire population of teens, maybe?"

At this, Vince smirked while mentally cursing his lack of awareness about teens as a whole. In actuality, he hasn't read this book in more than five years. "You should give it a try. Not all books are boring." Vince suggested while Vlad squirmed uncomfortably. Having to deal with Danny as an equal was more tiresome than he thought.

"Funny how half the class is probably using an audio track of this to go to sleep."

"You're probably mistaking that for Moby Dick." Vince said with a quiet chuckle.

"You've read that too?" Danny said sounding a tad bit astonished in a hushed voice.

Vince decided to lie, as it would apparently seem all too weird for him to have read yet another American classic novel.

"Ur… no, but I've head it's not that captivating… But this one," he gestured with a raise of the book in his hands "is good."

"Sure," Danny said doubtfully as he looked at the front cover of the book and lazily slouched over the desk. Mr. Lancer was still talking to the class, sometimes picking at the students with surprise questions relating to the story. To both Danny's and Vince's luck, neither of the two were required to answer anything. The English teacher must have presumed that Danny was trying to catch Vince up with the story.

"It's a story about some obsessed rich guy that has fallen in love with a girl that is already married. Dude, I don't need to read this- I deal with it." Danny said as he rolled his eyes skyward boredly. Vlad stiffened and fleetingly gave Danny a cold look before he remembered to act like Vince and curiously cocked his head to one side.

"How so?"

"Oh, nothing… How long have you've been here in Amity?"

Danny was terrible at changing topics, but Vlad allowed Vince to go for the bait and perked up cheerfully- or tried.

"Just a few days ago. I was helping my parents move into our new place." That was partially true. Just eliminate the bit about the parents and it would be entirely true.

"So, I'm guessing you haven't met many people around here yet?"

Vince shrugged his shoulders. "Besides running into you, I can't say I've talked to any one much." Vlad pretended to smile uneasily. Daniel quickly went for the bait and, like a chipper teen that he is, began to assure him that Amity was a pretty nice place.

Before he knew it, the bell had rung, indicating next class and Danny and Vince had spent the most of the class musing themselves with small talk. Daniel learned where he lived, and Vince learned that Amity Park was famous for their ghosts. Danny learned that Vince came from California and Vince learned that Daniel's parents were 'kinda crazy'. Not that Vlad didn't already know everything about Daniel, but it was interesting hearing about it from Daniel- rather than having to watch every move of his and his family make on camera.

With the sound of the bell, Daniel routinely started out of the class with a pleasant smile. Vince was about to get up to his feet and follow after Daniel when he was stopped by the clearing of an elderly low voice owned by Mr. Lancer.

"Dash, would you be so kind as to give Vince a tour around the school?"

Vlad was not aware upon whom exactly Dash was, but didn't care either way. He wasn't much pleased with the idea of having to be shown around this poor excuse for a school. He was about to object when he heard an accused voice speak up not far from behind him.

"What! Why me?" said a blond haired student, standing a good few inches taller than Vlad. Vlad cringed slightly at the feeling of being notably snubbed.

"Dash… Since you are one of the student representatives of Casper High, I should think that you are required to do this." Mr. Lancer said, his tone quietly holding the hint of a warning. Dash caught on surprisingly fast and muttered something about being _too_ popular.

"All right," Dash looked over to Vince, who had visibly cringed at the dislike of being passed on like a sack of potatoes. A smooth grin spread across Dash's lips as an opportunity sprang up before him. Vince didn't like the look on his face- it reminded him vaguely of a rich businessman staring down at a young competing corporation.

On the way out of the English class, Vlad caught a helpless look from Danny and his two friends before he was lead away by the blond jock.

At that time, Vlad was incapable of fathoming why they'd looked so sympathetic to him. The unsaid question was quickly answered though, when Dash placed a powerful hand upon Vlad's no-longer-built right shoulder, forcing his knees to buckle meekly. It was like getting a pat on the shoulder by Jack- the unwanted contact and the dumb weight.

"Here, lemme show yeah around the school Mor-on."

"Actually, it's Morgens," Vlad corrected, feeling that he aught to since he took his own time trying to remember that name. Dash's eyes flickered down at Vince while the corners of his lips pulled back into a smirk.

**DP**

For the most part of his first melancholy day as Vince Morgens, Vlad had declared it terrible. He had help revisiting his memories of his adolescent life with an extravagantly proud Dash Baxter and a few of his typical cronies. As an overall rating for the current day, Vlad would have to say that his way of living had fallen to a new and dramatic low. That is excluding the fact that he was now reduced to an apartment as a home. Admittedly, it had good accommodations, but it could never equal to the amount of dislike Vlad had found reliving his teenage life as Vincent blasted Morgens.

The first day he had narrowly escaped his 'initiation' into Casper High which consisted of yanking ones underwear up to their waist, getting dumped into a dumpster near an interesting fast food restaurant called 'Nasty Burger', and something else, which Vlad didn't bother to wait and listen to when he took his moment to flee.

The very idea that he- Vlad Masters- was running from a group of arrogant jocks made him feel petty. He had lost count on how many times he wanted to turn around on his heels, resume a more 'terrifying' form, and hang those ignorant brats from the flag pole by their underwear.

But that would blow his cover…

So many times, Vlad had considered the possibility of just stealing Jack Fenton's miserable weapon and tinker with it himself. It had been his first intended plan the day he woke up a couple decades younger. However, it rapidly changed at one point when he had realized his home was going to be littered with police investigating a missing billionaire and ghosts, drifting about his lab, wondering where their tyrant and employer is.

No thanks to Daniel Fenton's horrid school and its proud obscene teens ruling it, Vlad had wasted most of the afternoon ghosting his way through lockers and avoiding Dash Baxter.

It was lunch by the time Vlad had managed to escape from his tour around the school from a rather well-built football player. The rest of the period was spent cutting corners and cunningly getting Dash trapped inside his own locker by means of ghost powers.

Clapping his hands gently as a means to get rid of some non-existent dust off his hands, Vince stalked out of the school to the lunch tables and curiously looked around for a place to sit and preferably eat. It was while he was trying to catch sight of some unruly raven black hair, or his typical naïve expression that most often belonged to Daniel that someone else had noticed him walking past a cafeteria table.

"Congratulations! You've managed to get away from Dash and his pranks almost as good as Danny can. And only on your first day, too." A boy spoke up, catching Vince's attention with a wave of his hand. Vlad was off guard as he was looking for Danny and had never considered trying to look for this boy- Tucker- or the girl that sat next to him. The teen was sitting at a cafeteria table alongside with a pale faced girl that had night black hair. Vince stopped to look at Tucker in his red hat and yellow long sleeve shirt.

"Oh…? You know… Danny?" He asked as if he never knew.

"Kid with black hair?"

Vince nodded.

"Is incredibly clumsy?"

Vince nodded carefully.

"Scrawny?"  
Vince failed to hide a smile smirk as he nodded again.

"Has charisma but is not as good as mine?"

Vince paused and stared at Tucker pensively. The girl sitting next to Tucker did the honors of smacking Tucker in the back of his head. Vlad recognized her instantly as Samantha Manson, the rebellious teenager with a fetish for black and distinctive individuality.

"Yeah, that's our Danny." Sam answered while Tucker brought his hands up to his head to nurse his injured ego.

"You've been watching me?" Vince asked curiously while Vlad added a mixture of concern by biting his lower lip. He had to be more careful around Daniel's friends. They probably looked out for the weird and abnormal just to warn him.

"Mostly Dash. He's been chasing after you all day, so it means he hasn't managed to 'admit' you into Casper high yet. Seat?"

Vince accepted cautiously while he looked around for Daniel.

"Is Danny around?"

"Nah, he said he'd be here later. Had to go to the library or something." Tucker answered and then proceeded to take a bite out of his juicy hamburger. Vince guessed it was normal that Danny would be in the library. After all, it didn't seem the least bit odd for someone to read a book, or so he thought.

"Th' name's Tucker Foley. But you already know that. Nice to meet yeah Vince," A hand extended towards Vince as a gesture to shake. Vlad accepted it reluctantly while Tucker went on.

"And this here is Sam Manson. Don't let her deadly glowers trick you. She can be nice… I think." Tucker made a small wave towards the black haired girl next to him and smiled from ear to ear. Sam responded with another flick of her hand in Tucker's direction, causing the teen's hat tilt back on his head.

"So you're Vincent Morgens. Welcome to Amity Park…" Sam didn't sound very welcoming at all. In fact, she was eyeing Vince carefully from across the cafeteria table with her arms neatly folded in front of her chest.

"Yeah… thanks… It's nice." Vince said awkwardly, "and… quaint." He shifted and squirmed under Sam's gaze. Vlad knew better than to let Sam become suspicious of him, but it already seemed apparent that the goth wasn't going to let Vince slip under her radar.

"Yeah, _quaint_." One of her slim brows rose warily. "Where is it that you came from again?"

Vince was glad that he didn't have to answer Sam's question because a particular raven haired teen came jogging into the cafeteria with a newspaper in one hand.

"Sam! Tucker! You gotta see this…"

Danny's eyes followed from his friends to the new student sitting across from them. He smiled quickly and awkwardly. "Oh, hi Vince."

Vince raised a hand as a signal of acknowledgment. Danny elbowed himself a seat between both Sam and Tucker while he placed the newspaper down. At first, Vlad had no idea what could be so interesting about the newspaper; they were always filled with propaganda anyways. However, when Vince's ice blue gaze caught sight of a black and white photo of his mansion his eyes grew wide.

"What's this?" Tucker was the first to ask as he was more intent to finishing his meal than to read the article. Sam was already looking over the page while Danny looked from the two and then towards Vince briefly.

"Vlad's gone missing."

"Who?" Vince asked curiously, albeit quickly as well. Sam raised her eyes from the article to look at Vince thoughtfully.

"Oh, he's a… Friend of the family." _Liar_ might as well be written across Daniel's forehead, but Vince nodded his head curiously and accepted the response. "It says here that they suspect kidnapping," Danny went on to explain.

"You think?" Sam answered skeptically.

"No. But there isn't much detail about what happened except that he was reported missing last Wednesday morning."

"So what do you think happened?" Vince inquired as he was, after all, listening to the conversation. Danny stopped and looked at Vince, almost as if surprised that he would ask him something like that. The teen darted his eyes around himself nervously before he flashed a sheepish smile.

"Oh… ur… well I think the paper is lying about something. Vlad might be setting up a hoax to stir up the media."

Vince didn't look entirely convinced as he didn't know anything about this 'Vlad' and what his nature was like. "He would do that?"

"Yeah… well… he's kind of a fruitloop." Danny grinned. Vince clenched his jaw tightly.

"Well, we can't do anything about it." Tucker announced as he sat back in his seat and leaned against an invisible back support. Both Sam and Danny seemed to understand that they shouldn't talk about the current situation at the moment, so Sam encouraged a change of topic with a shrug of her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll show up a couple million dollars richer with the publicity…"

"Guess you're right. Hey Vince, have you had something to eat yet?"

"What? Oh… not yet."

"Let's go get something." Danny offered with a generous smile. Sam and Tucker both paused to exchange looks before Vince hesitantly accepted the offer and let the earlier conversation die.

**DP**

Danny had been up in the library at the start of lunch. He's been visiting the library more often since the past few weeks for reasons that even Danny had trouble trying to describe to himself. But one thing is for sure, Danny was there trying to learn about something.

Even though today he didn't learn much about what he wanted to know, he did happen to find an interesting headline in the papers just before he started out of the school library. Not long after bringing this to the attention of his two close friends, the three of them found a moment to spar shortly after school as they started their way home.

"Man I miss summer…" Tucker sighed grimly, having little to consult as Sam was fully prepared to debate over the disappearance of Vlad Masters. School had started about two weeks ago and all three teens were beginning to forget what it was like to have endless days of freedom.

"Me too, Tuck… but right now we have to figure out what Vlad is planning now that _Vince_ isn't around to listen." Sam rolled her eyes as she walked next to Danny with her thumbs hooked around the straps of her back-pack.

"It's not as if he meant to intrude. He doesn't know." Danny defended sternly, frowning at Sam.

"Exactly, which is why you should be more careful around him." Sam counteracted with a tight lip.

"Oh relax Sam," Danny sighed as he accepted his friend's warnings as a form of protective advice. "He isn't about to find out that I'm Danny Phantom." The fact that only Tucker, Sam and Jazz were the only three that knew of his second identity for the past two years meant that he was doing a good job keeping his identity hidden.

"Yeah, well I don't trust him… He's not right."

Daniel stopped to look at Sam dubiously. "Not right? Okay, so his hair's a little weird, but what's wrong with him?" Danny knew that Sam had more trouble trying to trust someone, but to suspect them of being less than who they were? She really didn't seem to like Vince at all.

"I don't know… It's just that I don't think he's what he's really like." Sam answered as she puffed out a sigh.

"Sam, you've only met him today. I think he's alright."

"Weren't we supposed to be talking about Vlad's schemes right now?"

Sam and Danny stopped facing each other off with daggers in their eyes to look at Tucker abruptly and lowered their guards temporarily. Sam grumbled passively as she shifted her book bag on her shoulders and glanced away doubtfully.

"Yeah, right… Look Danny, just don't slip up around him."

"Okay, sure…" Danny replied through his teeth as he picked up his pace. He knew Sam meant well, but he couldn't help but wish she wasn't so quick to judge. Truth be told, she had a good judge of character, but there were times when Sam's lack of trust in humanity made her decisions inaccurate. "You're really sounding like my sister, you know." Danny added as the corner of his lips turn up in a grin.

As expected, Sam burst out quickly and picked up her pace to keep up with Danny.

"What? I am not!"

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**Thanks to: **Shimo Ino, Dream's Abyss, Vinillii, -Oxxo-Yaoi-oxxO-, ContradictoryOrien, PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, Gothgrrl13, Tie-dyed Trickster, FernClaw, kute-kat509, Raven-loves-and Sanji.


	6. Bait

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters or Scott Fitzgerald's novel, _'The Great Gatsby'_. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Chapter 5**

**Bait**

The stipulations of a hunter are and must always be of high quality.

A knife, for example may be good, but a scimitar was better. A gun might be adequate, but an ecto-blaster was certainly superior. Now a gun with a sword at the end and a retractable ecto-blaster with a built in projectile net is just awesome! But that's besides the point…

Having the best and most of everything never has its disadvantages, which is why at this very moment, Skulker was using a ridiculously advanced high-tech pair of binoculars to spy on the notorious ghost boy in his natural environment. The goggles could see far enough that Skulker had only to nestle comfortably within his suit and watch while the ghost boy walked though the halls of his school without the fear of triggering the whelp's perceptive ghost senses.

The ghost child was a formidable foe to Skulker. And he was getting better each year as well. It was only with luck that Skulker had an extraordinarily rich employer who provided weaponry for all his needs and improved them. Without them, Skulker would have eventually fallen behind in the race to mount the ghost boy's head over his mantle.

This time, as a hunter, Skulker knew that if he wanted to catch this ghost, he would have to use all his skills as a hunter to accomplish this. And the first trade of all when hunting is to plan the most efficient means to capturing the pray.

Skulker needed to know as much as he could about the ghost child to map out the perfect plan. He knew, through past experience, that the boy used his environment to get the better of his stronger opponents. In that case, Skulker knew the first thing he had to do was lure the ghost-boy into his lair to tilt the environment to his advantage.

But how would he be able to lure the boy into the ghost zone and to his domain?

The mechanically enclosed ghost growled in his irritation as he continued to watch the ghost boy through his binoculars that could see through real-world made objects such as school walls and obstacles. Skulker couldn't tell what it was he could use to lure the ghost boy. As a ghost, himself, his only desires was his glory and the suit that gave him his glory. But this ghost boy didn't have anything that he needed or wanted in the ghost zone. Nothing that he could use to bait the child there.

He watched as the ghost boy wordlessly began to speak to his human cronies: the dark one, the techno nuisance, and another one that Skulker has yet to care to label. He made a short study of the third figure and decided to mark him as the white haired one.

Those three were the only ones that the ghost boy seemed to ever associate for the past few days. There is the case that Skulker noticed the ghost boy's frequent trips to the insufficient information gallery, but he brushed aside the action as a meager need to learn. Other than that, it was only those three during the hours of his school time that the ghost boy consulted with.

Skulker's neon green eyes flickered pensively as he watched the three pathetic humans.

He could kill one of them and the ghost boy would doubtlessly come after him with the means to destroy him. But that would risk having to fight the ghost boy here in the living world. Skulker grinded his jaws together as his fiery hair flickered above his crown. No, it would be too risky to kill one of them.

However… to kidnap one of them would not only give him something to use as a bargaining chip but it would also bring the whelp to the ghost realm and his domain. A metallic smile edged across his demeanor as he lowered his goggles.

And hey-why steal just one human? Why not three? After all- the more a hunter has to access, the better the hunter is.

**DP**

"I'm telling you, Gatsby isn't a '_weirdo'_." Vince was holding back the need to growl as he spoke.

He and Danny were just slipping out from English class and starting off for lunch. Sam and Tucker followed soon after, talking idly with each other as he, Daniel, partook in yet another friendly debate with Vince.

"He's a rich crazy stalker trying to get Daisy, who is already married. How is that not weird?" Danny countered with a daring smile.

"Because he's doing all of this for her. Haven't you heard the phrase 'people do crazy things when they are in love.'?"

"Which proves that he is crazy."

"Ye- nooo." Vince stammered as his brows knitted together. Danny smiled loosely. For the past five days, Danny had quickly figured out that Vince had a tendency to dramatize whenever Danny tried to downsize Gatsby or anyone by calling them crazy. It was fun- really- to watch his reactions. It was also fun to debate with him- talk with him- and joke with him- not only was it a relief from the redundant conversations about ghost attacks, it was also strangely fun.

"Look, Gatsby loves Daisy, and he's doing everything he can to make her love him." Vlad carried on, trying to prove his point while the two teens started around the corner and towards the cafeteria. Danny knew he should thank Vince for being around to argue with him during English class. It helped him get a better idea of the story. His marks were going up, and English class seemed more bearable. But he couldn't agree with Vince's attempt to defend Gatsby.

"Except murder her husband." Danny muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"I said, 'even cover up a fatal accident for her.'"

"You'd do that for someone you cared about, wouldn't you?"

Danny stopped in his tracks and frowned thoughtfully. Would he? It didn't take long for Danny to look over to Vince, flash a smile, and then nod lightly. "Yeah, I guess… but Daisy's a mindless girl from the nineteen twenties that only cares about being around the right people. I wouldn't do anything for her."

"You don't love her like Gatsby does. That's the point!"

"Then he's insane for loving a dumb broad!" Danny threw his hands up in the air, feeling like he was repeating himself.

"You're missing the point," Vince reasoned with a calming tone. Danny thought it was amazing that he could keep up an argument without raising his voice. "Gatsby doesn't think like that. He has a different point of view than you."

"Whatever…If anything, I think Gatsby deserves someone better. Tom even says it. And he's stupid for not realizing that." Danny shrugged his shoulders and opened the large doors to the cafeteria. He was half way past the doors before he noticed that Vince had stopped walking and was no longer next to him. The teen turned to look back.

The silver haired teen was standing still, looking at Danny as if a large bug was crawling over his face. He quirked a brow.

"What?"

"Oh… nothing… I just hadn't thought of it that way." He said slowly and started to make his way through the doors. Sam and Tucker caught up in the process and Danny ended up holding the door for all three of his friends. As he did, Danny caught a short look from Sam that indicated her suspicions for Vince still hadn't dried up. Danny sighed.

It was no different to when Danny started crushing over Valerie. Sam simply couldn't tolerate anyone who was outside of the 'Danny Phantom' loop. Although, Valerie was trying to kill him when he is Amity's vigilante, which gave Sam a good reason to be concerned… but Vince was just another student. Maybe his pale hair reminded her of the foreign exchange student formally known as 'Gregor'. Whatever the reason was, Danny couldn't help but think it was just Sam being over protective.

He wasn't the one that needed protecting. Though kind as it was in its own intentions, it was also tiresome to deal with. Danny didn't want Sam to pick out the people he liked- he was more than capable to do that himself. So he may have a few mortal enemies more than the average teenager. He's still alive and well...

It just so happened that while Danny mulled around in his own thoughts, he noticed his ghost senses go off with a wisp of cold air escaping his lips. Danny quickly looked around himself hurriedly to see if he could catch sight of the intruding ghost.

Had Danny been more watchful of the people around him, he would have realized that Vince was doing the same.

**DP**

At that moment, Vince concealed the look of surprise when he felt that usual tingle of awareness in the back of his mind, telling him that a ghost was near. Unlike Daniel, Vlad didn't regurgitate cold air when a ghost was near, and at this moment, he was glad he didn't since it would be harder to conceal. A shrill cry came from behind them.

Classmates of all grades were fleeing past the four students from the school cafeteria as the Ghost World's greatest ghost hunter, Skulker, floated overhead.

Dash happened to come careening out of the main hall, screaming with an unusually high voice and narrowly shoved Sam and Tucker aside to escape the haunted school grounds. Danny took a moment to smirk- even though Vince, Sam, and Tucker were busy gapping at the ghostly threat.

Sam and Tucker exchanged looks of urgency, then glanced to Vince, and then distinctly at Danny. Sam cleared her throat and came up with the reasonable excuse before Tucker could.

"Ah, a ghost… Run Danny, run." She said with little or no enthusiasm at all. The boy, in question, was already gone. Vince raised a brow, looking somewhat impressed.

"Wow, he's fast."

Sadly, the three of them weren't able to flee themselves when Skulker aimed his weapon in their direction and fired three shots. What appeared at first to be three neon green capsules suddenly broke into three weighted nets. Vlad recognized them instantly and wordlessly cursed himself for updating Skulker's hardware.

Sam and Tucker were caught and pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds under two nets that hit both of them head on. Vince had managed to leap away from the net designated for him. He turned to look back at the levitating figure of Skulker and mocked with a shake of his fist.

"Ha! You missed!"

Another shot was made with what seemed like more force. The capsule didn't even break until it hit Vince square in the chest and then pinned him beside Danny's friends to the school hall floor.

"Oh, Cheese logs..." He seethed quietly under his breath. Sam paused in her struggle to look cynically over at Vince "Cheese-_what_?" She probably would have repeated her question had she been in a better situation to do so, but seeing as she wasn't, Sam refrained from further interrogation as Skulker's military and mechanical feet landed before the three of them with a heavy clank.

Vlad didn't expect a ghost attack to interfere with his plans. In fact, he'd been hoping for it to be ghost free for as long as he could infiltrate Daniel's home. However, that wasn't a long stretch from hoping that Maddie would love him- it was near to impossible.

"Hello, bait." The ghost chuckled and picked up the tied ends of the nets and effortlessly threw the three of them over his shoulder. He raised his free arm forward to punch in a series of codes from something that resembled a PDA on his wrist when a green ecto-plasmic blast skimmed over his fiery green hair.

"Skulker! Let them go!" The young pubescent ghost boy, Danny Phantom yelled as he charged another green ecto-blast in both of his hands. The hunter aimed his gun in Danny's direction and fire in the process of taunting haughtily.

"Fat chance, whelp!" The capsule broke into a glowing net and ensnared Danny, knocking him to the ground. Vlad scowled briefly, considering the fact that Danny should have been able to avoid that. The ghost boy struggled to get up to his feet under the net, but it seemed apparent that the phantom was also dealing with volts of electricity as he flinched and twisted in pain. Vlad knew so. He had help in designing them.

"You'll have to try harder than that if you want to see your friends again." And with that, Skulker pressed a button on his wrist and just at his metal feet, a ghost portal tore open into the ghost world. Skulker made a simple jump and passed through the newly composed ghost portal, laughing arrogantly along the way.

"You'll know where to find me, boy!"

Vlad struggled profusely under the snare of Skulker's wired net. He took a short look up at the ghost portal only in time to see Danny Phantom reach the portal just as it snapped shut. On normal state of affairs, Vlad would have torn apart Skulker's shell of metal hardware and then carried on with plotting the destruction of Jack Fenton and the retrieval of his life and age.

But that wasn't the circumstance at hand now. He couldn't just go ghost- especially with Daniel's most trusted friends wriggling in their own nets next to him.

What good would it be any ways? Sure enough, he might be able to dismember Skulker's mechanical body with some effort, but that would only mean his secret was out to the ghosts, which would probably spell out disaster in big nasty black font.

No, the only thing that Vlad could currently do was act like Vince, confused, terrified, and amazed at this spectral dilemma. But while he was acting like Vince, Vlad cast glances over to see that both Tucker and Sam were urgently trying to free themselves of Skulker's snare and tossing irritating quips into the ghost's metallic ears.

"Let us out you diabolical fascist!" Vlad heard Sam's angry voice. For a moment there, Vlad thought she was talking to him.

"Yeah, what's the big idea you out-of-date piece of metal!?" Tucker added.

Vince stared with a mixture of admiration and confusion towards Daniel's friends. And yet, he also felt like laughing evilly at their futile attempts. Speaking of which, Vince pretended to act like he was struggling, even though he knew it was hopeless as a human to get out of one of Skulker's nets. But he had to act for the sake of the children.

Skulker was more offended with being called out-of-date and roughly shifted his heavy shoulders to cause the net that Sam and Tucker sat within to rock against his back.

"Silence fools! Or I'll make your deaths slow and painful." He threatened.

Sam didn't seem too affected by this intimidation, seeing as she was quick to realize why they had been captured. Tucker was also quite aware of the situation too, but unlike Sam, he had briefly forgotten about the stunned white haired student watching them.

"Uh, we wouldn't be much use as bait if you did- ouf!" Sam had abruptly silenced Tucker with an elbow against the techno-geek's chest while she harshly attempted to whisper a warning to Tucker. Vlad squinted at the two, feeling like he was deceiving them all too perfectly.

"Ah, but I only need one person to lure the ghost-child here, which makes two of you humans obsolete to me." Skulker answered as he made his way into his floating domain that resembled a jungle scene from the famous Indiana Jones movies. Sam and Tucker were abruptly silenced, leaving a space for all three humans to wonder anxiously who was going to die.

It was at that point, Vincent Morgens felt his fabricated fear grow. Vlad wasn't the least bit worried- which felt slightly odd since it only meant he had absolute confidence that the young ghost-boy, Danny Phantom, would save all three of them. But just to act like Vince, who had too much common sense to keep his mouth shut, spoke up.

"What makes you think that Inviso-Bill would bother to save us?!" Unlike Tucker or Sam, Vince would have no clue how to accurately call Danny Phantom. Even though Vince has only been in Amity for a week, he would surely know who Danny Phantom was by appearance. At least, Vlad hoped, that this was common knowledge around Amity. Otherwise, Danny's two friends would have found this highly suspicious.

Tucker and Sam suddenly looked at Vince; both quickly growing worried that this new student might find out Danny's ghostly secret.

"I have been observing the habits of the ghost-child long enough to know that any human life form could be suitable bait to lure him here, but you three are the most likely to stimulate a quick arrival."

"Ur, exactly how long have you been observing-ouf!" Tucker was quickly elbowed in the shoulder again as Sam how shot him another warning glance. "Okay, that's really hurting" Tucker muttered as he began to rub the middle of his chest. Sam snorted, giving him a look that dared him to speak again. Vlad pretended not to notice while Skulker let out a low throaty chuckle as he shot through the ghost zone like an arrow down to his domain.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

_Reference to _'The Great Gatsby':_ Because I'm sure some people haven't read the book or watched the movie, and without giving out too much to ruin the novel for those that want to read it…_

"I'm telling you, Gatsby isn't a '_weirdo' This is a case of opinion. Gastby did a lot for one girl. Change his name, bootlegging, even set up wild parties as his vast estate only to hope that the one girl would come to one of his parties so he could meet her. Love or madness is up to the reader._

"I said, 'even cover up a fatal accident for her.'"_ Daisy, the girl Gatsby had fallen in love with for ages, drove over a mistress that her wealthy and secure husband was having an affair with and then drove off in a panic. Gatsby covered up the incident by not saying anything to what happened._

"Whatever…If anything, I think Gatsby deserves someone better. Tom even says it. And he's stupid for not realizing that." _In the 1920's, some women were very reliant on rich figures with a name to their money. Gatsby was a stranger in a sense, the 'new rich' breed, and considered different and risky to be with. Daisy's husband, although crude and mean to Daisy, comes from a rich family that can support through the harder times. Given that it was the 1920's the boom before the bust after the war, some no-named rich figures had the potential to lose all their prophets when the inflammation of their trade dies. Even though Gatsby offered her everything, and his love (more than what Daisy's husband would give) she turned down love for security. Tom is a character in the novel. _

**A awesome thanks to:**__Raven-loves-Sanji, Tie-dyed Trickster _(_**You know what… I've seen you in RL on multiple occasions! Hehe!**_ )_, Esme Kali Phantom, animegurl088, princessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, Vinillii, Shimo Ino, Life-light, ContradictoryOrien, Kute-kat509, Dream's Abyss, ffnetlover, MouseKaiser, and ArmoredSoul.


	7. The Rescues

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**Note Four:** Have some good holidays!

**DP**

**Chapter 6**

**The Rescues**

Erik was getting tired of aimlessly floating around in the ghost zone. True, he never really had anything else better to do except complain to himself about how much he hated everything, but the fact is: wasting his time spiraling in circles made him feel like he was missing out on the time he could be spending dreaming about a life with a heart. The reason for such a directionless flight pattern was due to the eye, presently located in his chest, was having some troubles picking up the Heart Thief's victim.

Erik was willing to guess that the eye was defective.

It was really annoying; always pointlessly twitching about and giving Erik an indescribable wish to scratch the inside of his hollow chest, but he refrained from doing so, knowing well whose eye socket this eye called home.

Erik was terrified that _she_ might do something sadistic to him- as if _she_ hadn't already- if anything happened to the eye which was residing within his chest. Erik didn't understand this sense of fear that dwelt within him, but it gave him hope, knowing that he still had something it was worth existing for. It was these fears that kept him from plucking the slimy, ghoulish eye from his bosom and smashing it under one of the idle, floating rocks within the ghost zone.

A few days later, and Erik remained firm on his choice to listen to the Heart Thief's orders, but he still wasn't pleased with the lack of progress since then… that is, until the eye within his chest began to spasm with energy, for no apparent reason whatsoever. Needing no other catalyst to keep him going, the ghost adjusted his directions and headed straight to where the eye indicated.

The Heart Thief watched from the misplaced eye as its minion drew onwards past doors and domains inhabited by the ghosts that the Thief never bothered to know. As soon as it neared, the eye became more focused on one specific area.

A floating jungle, littered with strange and mutated after-wildlife. As the ghost, Erik, cautiously wandered on, the Thief took note of the infested terrain and the uninhabitable appearance it held for any human ghosts…

It seemed strange that its eye decided to focus on this area… The Thief hardly thought that its victim was the type to haunt lands such as these. If the Thief could carefully recall, the ghost in question looked to belong in a gothic castle, abhorred by many servants… Not a Tarzan parody…

Erik could hear noises by this point, not just the usual sound of birds squawking in the distance or the potentially dangerous growls of animals trying to kill said squawking birds, but human noises. Don't ask how Erik knew what 'humans' sounded like. He couldn't remember a time when he had ever really spoken to a human, but he was sure they sounded like words that made sentences used to communicate. Albeit, from the sounds of it, it was just a number of pointless insults as Erik neared what looked like a clearing in the center of the ghoulish jungle.

"Quiet!" A large, gruff voice growled. There was the sound of a knife, a blade, or something very reasonably sharp was drawn. Erik slowly drew away the leaves that blinded him from what the eye in his chest was so eager to find. Erik never worried about his sense of stealth. He never understood why or how, but he knew he was a master of shadows and hiding came naturally. Whomever they heard, it couldn't have possibly be been him.

A moment of silence… Erik had only to wait.

"You're so going to kiss that suit goodbye when Danny gets here." A female piped up. Erik drew closer and dipped down, peering out at the sight of a mechanical ghost standing between two nets strung up on separate trees holding three humans.

"He won't be able to do a thing with three of his side kicks at knife's point. Now be quiet you insufferable nag."

Odd. Erik felt the eye spasm and stare fixedly at one particular human.

Back at its domain, The Heart Thief sat up, blinking strangely as it looked through its absent eye at what its servant had to offer. Its blackened lips curled down in confusion.

That couldn't be the ghost it found so long ago… It couldn't be. And yet there was a familiar beat that it could see… perhaps a coincidence.

From the perspective of the Heart Thief, it could see four hearts. All of which had potential- albeit one of them was sour and shrewd- but still there. The mechanical ghost encompassed a green heart tilted on its roots. Hardly touched as well, and heavily guarded next to the mechanical suit that shielded his physical form…

Then there was the girl. Her heart was proudly beating a new and modern beat. Untamed and unleveled with any of the others there. It was red as most human hearts were, with a tint of a surprising violet. Had the Thief not already had a target, it may have considered seeding that lovely heart for future harvest…

The darker skinned boy sporting a hat had a red heart with a tint of royal blue. The color did not reflect sorrow or despair but rather a sense of detachment from other beings, and more for the superficial items in life. The boy already had a heart for the things that could help him without thought- electronics so to speak. But his heart was still human- still red. Still delectable…

Now this last one had a heart that caused lines to grow across the Heart Thief's features. It was familiar, yet not… And physically, this young boy looked nothing like the sickly pale ghost that she found those many years ago. The young boy's heart was malformed, like someone had taken a hammer to its glistening sides and mercilessly beaten against it. And there were old cracks with sealing in them to hold it together that matched its warm golden and red colors.

It was a rather pathetic sight… Dents were inflicted by the child's own self torment, and the cracks defined an old, dead relationship… Any heart like that tended to belong to a lonely old human with too much ego to understand his own hardship. A boy like this shouldn't have so many webs of splinters across his beating heart at his age. Still, the heart was large and strong, judging from the fact that it was already recovering from a recent heartbreak.

The Heart Thief's eye remained fixed on that one boy so Erik didn't move, but he could hear his master question whether or not to move on or follow after that little boy.

However, before the heart thief could come up with a conclusion a wild hearted ghost interrupted the scene and the Heart Thief's attention with his furiously vibrant red heart beating out of rage… and fear.

**DP**

On any other day, Danny would have been able to get by Skulkers's net like a saw through a twig, but the instant Danny felt the thin texture of the net wrap around him, he knew that Skulker had gotten an upgrade. Volts of electricity licked around him when he went to break free with the use of his aura and, almost as if it was reacting to the ghost's power, the violent jolting sensation only intensified.

That hurt. And by now he knew better than to underestimate Skulker's equipment today. But he was still a little late in figuring that one out.

Ignoring the flicker of electricity coursing over an in his body, Danny managed to tear off the net by firing two ecto blasts, ripping apart the nylon fabrics and getting to his feet. Unfortunately, he was seconds too late when he darted for the closing portal.

Sam, Tucker, and Vince disappeared along with the temporary portal to the ghost zone, leaving a furious and momentarily stunned ghost boy looking at the ground to where the portal stood only seconds ago.

"Skulker!" Danny growled as he rose into the air. The few students that had straggled behind were curiously watching Danny Phantom and taking wary steps forward. Danny didn't wait to hear someone scream out 'Danny Phantom!' in either a tone of loathing or obsessive joy. He turned himself invisible to phase out through the ceilings of the school unnoticed and headed to the only ghost portal that Danny had to access.

Fighting with Skulker wasn't always so annoying to Danny, but there was a fine line in hunting him on a week to week basis that Skulker usually stayed within. Today, however, he had just crossed that line by targeting not him, but his friends.

"You've gone too far," Danny said darkly as he phased into his family's home and darted for the ghost portal. Sure, Sam and Tucker have been in danger before- but they were a part of him as a team. They knew what they got themselves into when they joined him on his ghost attacks. But Skulker had also kidnapped Vince, which meant Skulker wasn't attacking a 'team' of ghost fighters anymore, he was attacking his friends who had done nothing to deserve this treatment.

Danny Phantom peeled through the ghost zone, weaving past floating doors and sailing past large barren rocks. It took him about twenty minutes of travel to reach Skulker's domain, and five more to pin-point Skulker's whereabouts.

A plume of smoke from a small fire within the jungle gave Danny a nice idea that his target was there. With little caution, Danny swooped down to the scene, fist blazing with energy, only to realize that he had flown into one of Skulker's many homemade traps.

The smoke was coming from a small campfire that had been set up for no apparent reason. It only dawned on Danny after he looked at the simple crackling fire that something was wrong.

_Trap._

The word blossoming in his mind was a little more overdue than Danny had hoped. He didn't know how he could have set off a trap- perhaps he snapped some fishing wire hung over the clearing- whatever it was, Danny now stared at a series of trees surrounding him with suspicious little holes staring unblinkingly at him.

It didn't take a genius to realize what was going to happen next. Danny barely had time to force a green ecto shield around him before dozens of darts spat out from the trees and cascaded off from the ghost shield.

As if that wasn't all, while Danny floated cautiously close to the ground he heard a grinding noise close by. It reminded him of the sound of gears turning while something was set loose. Danny only figured out where that noise was coming from when he noticed a shadow of what looked like a tree trunk swinging up from the boarder of the clearing, and heading his way.

Gapping, Danny darted away hastily in time to avoid becoming a smear on the ground. Lucky for him, Danny remembered intangibility didn't work for objects in the ghost world. The trunk landed with a thunderous crash, causing a series of strange, alien-like birds to rise up from the cover of the trees.

The ghost boy lingered in the air, listening for other traps. The sound of the crackling fire and ghostly wildlife was the only things that reached his ears. Danny grimaced briefly as he looked at the tree that had nearly made him into a pancake. Skulker must have set that trap just to make sure he knew he was around. If the sound didn't alert that mechanical nut, then the unsettled flock of birds surely would.

He began to rise into the air slowly, looking over the branches of Skulker's jungle. There was a distinct trail leading from the clearing. Danny didn't like the idea that he could very well end up stumbling into another one of Skulker's traps, but it seemed to be the only lead he had to finding Sam, Tucker, and Vince. So after gritting his teeth in a growl, Danny Phantom pushed onwards, following the trail of bread crumbs to Skulker.

**DP**

As Danny expected, he had encountered more than four different traps along the way, all of which he had managed to avoid because 1) Skulker's traps were far too animal oriented, 2) If and when he did get trapped, Skulker's traps either couldn't take Danny's heat for too long, or 3) Danny found a way out before something else came crashing down to end his half life. All in all, it just delayed the inevitable.

And at one point, Danny restored his human form to waltz right past one of Skulker's traps. When he finally did weasel his way past his last trap, Danny- back in his ghost form- caught onto the sound of a familiar goth, snarling loudly.

"You're so going to kiss that suit good bye when Danny gets here."

"He won't be able to do a thing with three of his side kicks at knife's point. Now be quiet you insufferable nag." A deep voice replied sourly. That was definitely Skulker.

"What did you call me!?" Sam was ignored from the sounds of it and the following voice that Danny heard belonged to someone else other than Sam or Skulker.

"Um… Why do you keep saying that? I've only seen Inviso-Bill in the news, I don't know anything about-"

"His name is Danny Phantom," Sam corrected with a slight hiss. "And even if you're new here, _Danny Phantom_ will get us out of this mess no matter what."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why that ghost keeps calling us his side-"

At this point, Danny knew it was better to move than it was to let them continue their idle chit chat about him and their predicament. It was getting far too close to the truth, thanks to Skulker's lack of care for his secrets.

Danny Phantom swiftly darted into the clearing, giving himself a perfect idea of what was going on right now.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker.

"Inviso-Bill!" … and Vince.

All three humans announced their joy at the same time when they spotted Danny erupting from the forested jungle.

Sam and Tucker hung within a net which was elevated with the help of a tree and a rope holding the net up. Vince was sitting in another net not far from Sam and Tucker in the exact situation as them. And underneath them were two deep pits- quiet possibly filled with something that could kill them if they were to fall. Skulker stood between the two nets with a large mechanical grin across his face.

"So you've managed to find us. Took you long enough, whelp." He chortled malevolently.

"All right Skulker let them go," Danny said, trying to avoid being too personal. After all- he was only Danny Phantom and he had _never_ associated with Sam, Tucker or Vince on a day to day basis.

"Careful what you ask for, boy." Skulker raised a hand to reveal a small remote in his hand with a button and a switch on it. Danny didn't connect the pieces until he flicked on the switch and the button lit up bright red- just as two other matching lights lit up on the ropes holding both nets up over the two pits.

Danny flinched and started towards Skulker before the hunter raised his thumb to the button playfully.

"Ah-ah-ah," Skulker tsked. "Maybe you ought to choose who to save first before lunging." He said as he raised his other mechanical hand to point the barrel of a gun at Danny.

"Dude…" Danny hovered in the air, his arms folded in front of him calmly. "I don't need to choose, you numskull." At this, Skulker's grin ebbed slightly on his grey demeanor. Danny began to center his ghostly form while Skulker took the silence as a form of mockery.

"What are you talking about, boy?" he growled, earning himself a smirk from the teenage ghost boy but no response.

"Have it your way, whelp!" He growled and pressed the button, releasing the ropes hold on both of the nets. At that very instant, Danny's form split in two separate Danny Phantoms that darted for either net. Skulkers neon green eyes flickered with revelation just as the three humans released the air from their lungs in a scream as they began to plummet.

"No!" Skulker roared as the ghost boy swung in and caught a hold of the net bearing the goth child and techno geek. Reacting swiftly, Skulker's weapons aimed for the second Danny that was just about to reach for the other net.

Danny's fingers were mere centimeters from grabbing a hold of the net harboring Vince but just before his fingers could enclose in the enhanced snare, an ecto blast scored him at close range at his stomach. He let out a cry of pain just as his fingers missed and his thin body was hurtled through the air and into the very tree that had once suspended Vince's net in the air.

"Danny!" Vince yelped. Had Danny been able to hear that voice again, he would have realized that it sounded more annoyed rather than a terrified plea. But just as Vince said his name, his round ice blue eyes disappeared down the pit and Daniel's ears were greeted with a sickening thud from inside of the pit.

"VINCE!!" Danny flew to the pit, his heart hammering in his throat just as his duplicate disappeared once Sam and Tucker were placed onto the solid ground. Before he could reach the pit, Skulker lunged at the ghost teen, a fist outstretched, knocking him back violently while a hideously pleased laugh escaped his lips.

"You were a little slow, now weren't you?"

"You bastard!" Danny swung back in the air, sprinting forward, throwing a barrage of fiery green balls that flickered much like his eyes were doing at the present time. Skulker had only to pull himself up in the air to avoid the attacks while he shot a few of his own. Unfortunately for him, Danny wasn't going to let Skulker land a single blow more on him and charged at the mechanical ghost, meeting up with one of Skulker's ecto blasts by a mere foot before the teen smashed the end of Skulker's barreled gun with a radiating green fist.

"Why you-!" Skulker couldn't finish wording his indignant rage before Danny had grabbed at his malfunctioning arm and swung him around in the air and down with enough force to create a drag line of dirt from where he had impacted to where his form now settled.

Even in his rage, Danny had managed to take the fight away from Sam and Tucker with each of his attacks. Skulker appeared to be having a lot of trouble just trying to guard himself after picking himself up from the ravaged ground around him. Not once did Danny consider what Skulker was doing when he began to back away with every attack. The only thing that ran through the ghost boy's mind was pure, hot rage.

"You killed him! You _bastard_!" With his eyes glowing green he screeched, sending forth a wave of force in the form of a ghostly wail, throwing Skulker back into a clearing. The ghost shuddered, his left arm had long since stopped functioning since Danny had used it as a handle to toss him around, but the ghost still grinned wickedly as he pulled himself haggardly up onto his two heavily clad feet.

"It was just a human," Skulker quipped with a malevolent smile as he raised his right arm to his left, apparently searching for something. Danny didn't notice or care, he only roared back at the ghost's thoughtless words, charging at him with his fists ablaze, intending to lop off the said ghost's head. However, blind to the surroundings around him, he missed the fact that Skulker had led him into another one of his traps. Had Danny been more aware of it, he would have realized his given surroundings looked suspiciously like the first clearing he stumbled into on Skulkler's domain.

Skulkers fingers found the button he was looking for and barely managed to press it before Danny's fist connected with his head. At that very instant, the surrounding trees released a volley of darts while Skulker's head went flying off his shoulders.  
At that instant Danny would have thought that perhaps he should have planned out his actions first. Maybe then he would have had time to guard himself from these darts. Maybe then he would have caught Vince's net as well…  
And maybe then a shield, not belonging to him materialized over him, seemingly out of the blue as he caught the fleeting movement of someone behind him. Stunned and perhaps confused, Danny stood still as he was guarded under what looked like a familiar pink ecto dome that was- for some reason- unusually thicker than what he thought a shield should be. It obscured his vision of the outside, but he could hear the darts uselessly ping off from the shield and he could make out some shapes- like the odd figure that stood close to the shield on the outside…

The shower of darts ended almost as quickly as they came and the figure slumped next to the shield. By this time, Danny was at the side of the shield trying to see through without any luck as the figure vanished just like that, soon followed by the shield's deterioration, leaving Danny to stand in a ring of untouched ground surrounded by a number of darts, clustered at his feet.

Stunned, Danny wordlessly turned his gaze to Skulker, suspecting another trap, but as his green eyes flickered to the hunter, he saw an immobile headless suit lying on the ground.

"Danny! Where are you?" The ghost boy looked up, hearing Sam's voice. The energy Danny had had earlier while ripping apart Skulker's suit left, leaving him drained and shaken. He turned to see Sam stop at the clearing and look at Danny. Her expression was illegible, but a good portion could be mistaken as sympathy.

"Are you… okay?" Sam began softly as Danny started towards her. She didn't earn a response as the ghost boy marched past her, heading back to the scene of Skulker's murderous ploy.

Tucker was sitting down a good few yards from the pit which Vince fell into, looking just as grim as Sam. He glanced to the pit. Unlike Sam, Tucker failed to find any words to comfort Danny as he stopped and looked at the said pit. All thoughts of his mystery savior from Skulker's trap were forgotten with the rising ill sensation in his gut, telling him that for the first time in his young life…

Someone had died because he was a hero.

Sam gently rested a hand to Danny's shoulder. "You… tried, Danny…Skulker-" Danny stepped away, pulling himself from Sam's comforting hand as his shoulders rose.

"No! Someone's dead because of me, Sam!" Danny snapped.

He didn't know why, but he would have liked to hear Sam snap back- maybe tell him that he should have never started to let Vince hang out with him. He'd have liked it more if Tucker or Sam would have smacked him; to tell him how ridiculous he was acting. But they didn't do anything. His words of anger were met with silence.

Danny's fist clenched as he stood weakly on his two feet. Using a ghostly wail was hard enough on him when he wasn't already furious, but he managed to stay in his ghost form still.

"Come on Danny," Sam coaxed softly. "You didn't kill any one,"

Danny was about to correct her when a weak cough came from the very pit that Vince had fallen in. Sam jumped away from Danny in shock just as Tucker snapped his head up and looked to the pit in shock. Danny raised his head shakily.

"C-could someone help me?" Someone yelped from within the pit. Immediately Danny was at the side of the hole, looking down into it to see Vince, still caught in his net, but the teenager had somehow managed to grab a root that jutted out from the wall through the net and cling to it.

"Holy-! Vince! Why didn't you say anything?" Tucker was the first to stutter as he reached the side of the pit and looked down. Beneath Vince was another good five foot drop onto a pit of wooden spikes that- as Danny looked- had impaled Vince's book bag when it fell from the net. Speechless, Danny quickly floated down to pick up Vince around his waist and yank him up and out from the pit.

Still coughing, Vince was placed down on his feet while Phantom steadied him carefully, pulling the net off from him. Relief washed over Danny as he looked down at the teen that hastily started to dust him self off. A large smile blossomed across Danny's face, feeling all the more comforted that today wasn't going to be the day that Danny Phantom couldn't save a life. At the given moment, Danny was also urged to hug the still-alive Vince, but with his identity, Danny settled to patting Vince's back as the teen coughed haggardly.

Tucker hugged Vince for him, catching the other teen by surprise.

"I can't believe it! You- you held onto a branch all this time!?" Tucker burst enthusiastically. Vince smiled weakly and nodded. Sam was just as equally stunned, but rather than hugging Vince she only smiled, her brows rising with astonishment.

"Dude, you should have said something- you could have lost your grip!" Tucker went on after stepping back to look at Vince who visibly slouched a little. The teen shook his head.

"I thought that mechanical thing was still around," As if reminded by those words, Vince looked around himself nervously.

Danny Phantom laughed- or tried so in a heroic sense. "You won't be seeing him again."

As if for the first time, Vince looked up at Phantom and his mouth fell open in surprise for a few seconds before it closed and meekly gave a smile of thanks. However, all smiles faded away when Vince carefully bent over and sat himself down and clutch his head with both hands.

"Whoa Vince, are you all right?" Tucker started, bringing a hand to Vince's shoulder comfortingly. Vince made no notice for it as he heaved a breath of air and raised a hand.

"I'm… good, I'm good… Just a small asthma attack," He waved it off easily as he started to control his breathing. The trio of ghost hunters looked at one another worriedly before Sam moved over to Vince to grab him under his arm. Vince was helped up and he nimbly detached himself from Sam's aid, looking reluctant to being pitied.

"No… seriously. I'm just out of breath… I'll be good in a minute," Vince assured the three.

Unconvinced with Vince's comment, Danny sighed. "All right, just a second, I'm going to get you guys out of here," Danny closed his eyes and focused carefully. Danny felt the familiar tug in his body before he yanked himself two different directions. Opening his eyes, Danny Phantom looked to his right- or left so to speak- and saw a duplicate of him self smiling back.

Using his clone, Danny Phantom landed between Sam and Tucker and linked his arms around their waist as he usually did and lifted the two in the air. The real Danny did the same with Vince, who looked fidgety at the idea of being picked up, but soon complied when he glanced at Sam and Tucker who didn't complain.

It quickly struck Danny as he carried the three humans through the air that Vince was going to see the inside of his parents' lab if he didn't do anything when they reached their only way out. From the look Sam was giving Danny as they neared their destination, Danny could tell the same problem was on her mind. Frowning, Danny looked down at Vince, who apparently seemed content in clinging for dear life onto his shoulder.

Maybe he could blind fold him with somehow, with his hand maybe, or an ecto gag of sorts. Danny grimaced at the thought. He didn't really want to scare Vince as it already was and he wasn't looking too hot flying around in the ghost zone in his arms. Come to think of it, Vince looked ill.

And… asleep? Danny arched a brow and stopped, hovering in the air as he looked down. Vince was asleep and still clinging to him, it was apparent from the way he didn't react when Danny started to move again, or seem to care that his head was resting against his chest.

Blinking back his look of amusement, Danny frowned. Who would have thought Vince could drop off to sleep that easily? Or maybe he doesn't…Worried that it might be something to do with his asthma, Danny picked up his pace to get home faster.

**DP**

Trust Danny to screw up a rescue mission.

Vlad was mildly annoyed that he had to risk his identity- his _life-_ to help Danny save _him._ Or Vince, so to speak, but the same person.

The moment Skulker released the trap, Vince began to fall. He yelled- what else would a terrified human do? And when Danny missed, Vlad came close to yelling 'You little poptart!' when he disappeared past the rim of the pit and hastily changed into his ghost form to rescue himself from a rather painful death. It was sad to say that his school books didn't survive the fall, but they were replaceable and there was no hard loss. He'd just have to share Danny's books again, tell the teacher that a dog made off with his backpack maybe.

Why was he thinking about trivial things such as school right now? Vlad's brows knitted together in aggravation while he turned invisible.

Acting like a teenager was distracting him and he really needed to keep himself on track. Rising up from the pit, Vlad glanced indifferently to see Tucker and Sam stare, horrified at the pit that he had just fallen down. Glad that the two were far too afraid to see what happened to poor Vince, Vlad turned his attention to the sound of fighting.

More specifically, a ghostly wail.

Vlad growled quietly to himself. It was a risk enough as it was to be in his ghost form, but if Danny used that attack, the boy would be at the mercy of his enemy if he managed to withstand the blow.

And considering that it is Skulker, Vlad had a good idea that there was a chance he did. Restraining another growl, Vlad darted off to the scene. Vlad was only a second into the clearing when he narrowly avoided getting smacked by a flying metal skull containing a startled green ghost. Blinking, Vlad glanced back to where Danny was and groaned.

"You always jump into fights without thinking still…"

Seeing what was coming next, Vlad hastily reached Danny in time to raise a shield around the boy. But afraid to reveal himself to the boy and give him any more hints of his current state, Vlad formed a thick shield around Danny to save him from the trap, but with him on the outside.

Vlad wished he could have done the same for himself, but he only managed to use smaller ecto blasts to halt the share of darts in his direction with one hand while the other held up the shield. Vlad was doing all fine and dandy at this point until he felt a prick in his lower calf.

Looking down, Vlad swore under his breath and yanked out the dart hastily from his leg before using the remainder of his ghostly energy to turn invisible and get away.

This wasn't good…

Careful not to move too much and spread the poison Vlad made his way back to the pit, glad to see that Tucker hadn't had the nerve to look yet. He paused and looked back when he heard Sam shout after Danny. Thinking quickly, Vlad sank down into the pit, grabbed the net and pulled it over him before he looked for something that would look like a good grip. A root was barely showing at the side of the pit, so with some effort, Vlad yanked at the root a few times until it hanged neatly out from the wall of the pit. There, Vlad waited in his ghost form until he heard the three teens close by and finally released his ghost form. Although, before he did, Vlad had the chance to reflect that Daniel should one day be taught the consequences of heroism. But since Vlad didn't want to use 'Vince' as a lesson to poor heroics, he would have to leave that to another day.

The immediate weight of his human state caused him to hang more against the root and for a panicked second, Vlad struggled to keep his grip firm on the dirty root. The action in doing so caused Vlad to suck in a breath of dry dirt and cough violently.

At least it got their attention.

Asthma seemed like a good excuse as to why Vlad was feeling the poison work its way through his body. He was pleased that he could keep himself awake long enough to explain himself and assure the others that 'Vince' was fine.

Vlad was not - he was furious with Danny for messing up so terribly. Vlad wasn't even considered a hero and he knew that the boy flunked big time today, and someone _could_ have died. Why Vlad was actually feeling worried about that was perfectly understandable, seeing as that 'someone' that _could_ have died would have been him. True, Vlad was presumed 'evil' but that didn't mean he disregarded innocent lives without reason.

Flying with Daniel was extraordinarily strange for Vlad, or perhaps it was the effects of the drug… Either way, the sensation of being held while flown through the air was strangely lulling to the hybrid. He didn't like the fact that it was Daniel carrying him, and the boy had already proven to him that he was irresponsible, so Vlad clung, making sure the boy wouldn't make any more mistakes for the day. Absently, Vlad wondered what Danny was going to do about Vince seeing the interior of his home.

But before he could find out what Danny planned, he found himself trying to… stay awake… no thanks to… Skulker's… poisonous…

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**Thanks to: **Vinillii, Reptilian Goddess, The Midnight Phantomess, gothgrrl13, Raven-loves-Sanji, ffnetlover, Tie-dyed Trickster (again), Miss Kelly Elizabeth, ArmoredSoul, Mouse Kaiser, PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, Dream's Abyss, kute-kat509, ContradictoryOrien, Rya Starling, and Kari-Sama **for reading and enjoying the thrill of 'In a Heart Beat'! I hope you all will stay for more! **


	8. The Spies

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Chapter 7**

**The Spies**

"My heart! My-my precious heart! What has he done to it!?"

Screeching echoed through the charred branches of the Heart Thief's domain. Servants and heartless ghosts winced and clamped their hands over their ears, startled and annoyed by the sudden break in their decade long silence.

The black sinewy thief rose to its feet, howling in rage and thrashing through the low branches that dared to grow into the Heart Thief's lair. With the loss of temper, the Heart Thief didn't care that in doing this was hurting it.

Years. That was one way to count how long it had wasted trying to compose this succulent heart for itself. Nearly twenty long years! And this was what it had to show for it? The mere shell of the heart it once saw now hanging on the last tendons in its hearth. The fruit and passion of it had dried and spoiled like common food. It shocked the Thief to see that such a heart still beat even in its miserable state, trying to mend its fallen pieces and fortify the once strong walls it once had. It was remarkable, but disgusting.

The Heart Thief knew it had waited far too long. Something had happened to the cage that it had placed around that golden heart. The remains of it were missing and the heart- as expected- had fallen apart like a building without its beams. And to think the ghost had the will to continue existing even when the heart was so crumpled!

Even more of a shock, that very heart was still trying to fix itself all on its own! The Thief might have taken a moment to reflect why that was, but it was too infuriated to see its time and effort gone to waste, the Heart Thief failed to notice that, while Erik watched the ghost fight and defend his so called friends, the heart flickered with more life.

Erik ducked low in the recluse of the wild forest, watching the scene play out as a young white haired boy became none other than the ghost the Thief had been searching for. Albeit, his appearance had altered, but there was no denying those sad red eyes and that smoke-streaked onyx hair. Whatever broke the Thief's spell certainly did a number on this ghost's appearance as well. Curious of the strange sight, Erik watched as his master raved. The ghost had guarded and protected the other ghost in a shield before he turned away and dove back to the safety of a hole in the ground. The pale servant was astonished to see the very same heart that he had been watching change when the ghost altered his form to that of the simple silver haired human.

Two hearts… One broken and badly in need of comfort… and another still holding its own against the hardships of life, harder than steel. Erik was no expert at hearts like his master, but he was sure that was unusually rare.

"Erik!"

The ghost snapped his head up from his thoughts and accidentally hit his crown on a low branch. Scowling, the heartless ghost closed his eyes, hearing the Thief stew vainly in his mind. The eye within his chest provided a mental link between master and servant, to Erik's great misfortune.

"I want you to follow them! Keep out of sight and don't you dare lose my heart!" It hissed and Erik complied indifferently as the Thief continued to rant out loud, giving both Erik and other ghosts that waited upon the creature's orders a sore headache.

"I am not going to surrender this heart… I've spent too long nursing this one!" The Heart Thief snarled as it reached a strangely composed shelf of roots and bark within its domain. Inside it were a series of small flasks; some full and others devoid of the strange glimmer that radiated from the occupied containers. The moment the Heart Thief reached the shelf, a number of sleepy eyes grew wide and looked at the Thief in horror. Erik, too, shuddered, even when he wasn't there to know what the witch was doing.

The Thief thumbed through the glasses… sometimes earning a small gasp of surprise or fear when it's gnarled finger slowed by filled flasks.

"It's time I got out and had a better look at what has been happening…" a blackened hand sank around a long necked flask and pulled it from the shelf.

There was a small whimper heard in the darkness of the Heart Thief's lair. Ignoring it, the Thief uncorked the small flash and brought the substance to what was left of its nose. The whimper grew louder and the Heart Thief growled.

"Ssshut up. You don't even know what you are whimpering about," At this the voice quieted. Turning around, the Thief spied a ghost that once had been a young and startlingly sweet girl. But with a hole in her chest, deep sunken eyes and flat dry hair, the ghost was nothing more than another confused slave. She didn't know why she was whining, but something was telling her that what the Heart Thief held in its hands was the only thing she knew that was valuable to her.

But, like Erik, she didn't know why. So confused, the ghost backed down to question her actions solemnly.

And the Heart Thief wasn't planning on telling her. Corking the drink once more after finding it suitable, the Heart Thief whipped over to a ragged pile of cloth that had only recently been used as bedding to its hammock and pulled up an old torn black trench coat, and wrapped it around its shoulders. Then, the Heart Thief pocketed the small flask.

Naturally the Heart Thief carried with it two flasks at all times when it left its lair: One to help hide in appearance for a time, and the other for a dire situation. At the moment, the Thief needed neither until it reached the portal to Amity Park.

**DP**

Considering that Daniel had rarely been sick, thanks to his ghost powers, it was particularly strange to see someone who was ill close to him. Further more, it was odd that he was some how reassured by that ghostly glow around him that Vince was going to be just fine. Danny wasn't positive as to whether he could call this a ghostly skill or not, but he was sure if that he knew whether someone was going to die, he would more than likely know it on the count of being partially dead himself.

Whatever the case may be, Danny Phantom was a little unnerved to be carrying someone who looked sick and pale but felt a positive motion in his health. The feeling only reminded him of how fragile the things that he protected were. Sam and Tucker were no different. He knew better than to stop Sam and Tucker from risking their lives to go ghost hunting, but Danny was also sure that eventually something was going to happen to make his heroics a solo activity.

College and the end of High School came to mind and Danny also knew that would change things too; not just this shivering Vince cradled in his arms.

It was a start, thought Danny, A push closer to the edge to the darker corners of his super hero life. Heroes had to make sacrifices, all the famous ones did it in the comics; he only hoped that he wouldn't have to make them soon.

The moment he had Vince, Sam and Tucker through the portal and onto a deserted street of Amity, Tucker took a glance at his watch. The afternoon light was dimming into evening and the three teens all declared to themselves that they had missed the rest of the school day. Sam's violet eyes were on Vince, whom Danny decided to keep holding, given that he didn't look awake enough to stand on his own.

"Wow Danny… you think he's okay?"

"No, but I don't think a hospital would be necessary." Danny said, deciding to not explain the feeling of 'knowing' if someone was or was not going to die. He was sure it was something like animals 'smelling' fear on a person as it was to being a ghost and sensing death nearby. Weren't there stories about apparitions that appeared just before ones death, or was it after? He was sure Sam has read about them.

Sam looked at Danny, awaiting some kind of sign to tell her that once again Danny was wrapping himself up in one of his 'I'm a half ghost, you wouldn't understand' moments. Earning the very expression that she anticipated, the Goth shook her head and gave up because she was more than aware that there was no way getting past that excuse. "Well, if you say so… But we can't just carry him around until he's well better enough to walk on his own."

"It'd look a little weird," Tucker added, which earned him two looks from both of his close friends. "Well it would," he emphasized this by crossing of his arms.

"You guys head home… I'm guessing news about this got to our parents already."

"Yikes," Sam's brows rose in realization. "Knowing my parents, I'll be pulled out of school if I'm not back soon," And she was serious about this. Which is why she didn't wait to hear Danny further explain what he was going to do about Vince and started at a jog in a direction that said 'home' to her.

"Call me when things blow over, kay? See ya!"

And, just like that, Sam had recovered from being kidnapped. Have to admit, though, both she and Tucker expected things like this to happen everyday. It was nice to know that the two most at risk in his life had some sort of immunity against the fear of being in danger.

What worried Danny was that they perhaps trusted him too much to not be afraid.

"I'll take Vince home. He told me where he lives," Danny said just as he shifted Vince a little more comfortably since the teen had slipped systematically down, putting a strain on Danny's arms holding him.

"And I think I'll stay around a little while to be sure he's okay,"

Tucker tipped his head in understanding.

"If my parents call, tell them I'm at your place, all right Tuck?"

"Washing our brains of school work, playing Ultimate Gore, no problem Danny- good luck with Vince," And with that, another equally untroubled teen walked off, wondering how long it would take to beat Sam's high score on the latest violent teen rated game. No concerns at all.

Danny's green eyes fell onto Vince, who continued to sleep ignorantly in Amity's superhero's arms. Now to see if this teen would be able to shake off a supernatural kidnapping and the near loss of his life, thanks to Danny and his futile efforts. The hybrid forced a wave of invisibility over himself and Vince, took flight, and started towards Vince's home. Danny decided, as he sailed through the air, that he hadn't really earned the right to be called a hero today. He managed to screw up a rescue mission _and_ get pissed. He had even used his ghostly wail, which, considering who he was fighting with, was a thoughtless action that only drained him of energy. Besides getting temperamental that evening, Danny hadn't really saved anyone…

Someone saved him.

Danny knew he wasn't exactly the most favorable ghost out there in the paranormal world, but he must have some kind of ghoulish friend looking out for him. Why he or she- or possibly it- hadn't presented him-her-its self before Danny was a mystery to him.

Perhaps he had an admirer…

That could never be good.

**DP**

At the apartment building that Vince had once or twice mentioned to him in idle conversation, Danny found it close in the central part of Amity. Thanks to his invisibility and intangibility, Danny had only to check the names provided on the doors of the building and find 'Morgens'. Fourth floor, room 405.

Upon arrival, the first thing Danny noticed was the untouched feeling that the room he had phased into gave off. No photos, pictures, minimal furniture. Danny easily assumed that Vince's family was still unpacking from moving in. Searching for Vince's room and careful not to run into some potentially worried parents, Danny hovered, invisible still, along through the hall.

There was a living room that cut into a kitchen. It might have been pleasant had the walls not looked so sterile and blank. It gave Danny the idea of an empty hospital room. Thankfully the kitchen looked like a mess with a number of grocery bags still sitting on the countertops.

Vince's parents must be busy. He shouldn't blame them. No doubt moving into a new neighborhood would be hard on the whole family, not just Vince. Although something was nagging at Danny's mind. The living room looked untouched. In fact… there was dust collecting on the surface of a coffee table. There were no books or magazines lying about except a few of Vince's school books that were neatly placed on the sofa.

Danny was sure his parents weren't normal, but he was also sure that he knew when there were parents roaming about. They tended to have their own kind of 'messes' that were different than teens, unless the assumed teen was Jazz.

Danny found a room that sported a large queen sized bed in the corner with an open closet deserted of anything. Vacant. The curtains were drawn back and not even bed sheets over the large mattress were to be found.

Okay… Maybe Vince's parents were doing the laundry for their room… It had to be their room of course… there was always a room in apartments that radiated 'the parents' room'. This one was it. They were still unpacking, Vince's mom and dad may be shopping for a completely new look. That's got to be it…

Next, Danny found a bathroom… Toothbrush, toothpaste, a sink… shower, tub, brush. All normal… but still bland. Danny took note that there was only one toothbrush. The lack of things such as cosmetics, and the various few items next to body wash, shampoo, and conditioner were setting alarms off in his mind. It was natural that there would be something more… And yet, the only thing he could find were the few things that only a male teenager would want or need…

Shopping… yeah, Vince's parents were out shopping. Big time.

Finally Danny found Vince's room.

And to the hybrid's relief, it looked like it had had life previously in it. There was a deep blue comforter bunched at the base of a single sized bed and two pillows sitting at the top of the bed. At the base of it there was a duffle bag half shoved under the bed with some clothing hanging out from it. A closet door was open with a number of choice clothing that Danny had seen Vince wearing over the last week were hung up or hastily tossed into it. There was even a laptop on a nightstand plugged into the wall.

Completely normal, albeit there was a lack of personal intervention on the walls. But surely… Vince was just moving … in…

The said teen continued to sleep uneventfully in Danny's arms while the ghost slowly lowered him down into the comforts of his bed. Now freed of the extra weight Danny straightened up and frowned thoughtfully.

Where were Vince's parents?

A lot of answers came to mind, but that still didn't answer the empty bedroom, the untouched living room, the one-man washroom, and the overall lack of life here. Danny felt like he had stumbled into the wrong room. To be sure, Danny double checked the doors of the apartment. Room 405. Nothing wrong there.

Still unsatisfied with what he found, Danny gradually floated back into Vince's room, deciding he'd better prolong his stay - just until Vince woke up- or maybe his parents arrived home. Vince looked a little peaky as he curled into himself, hugging a violated looking pillow and the best Danny could do for the poor teen was pull the bed sheets over him.

Vince yawned, which ultimately caused Danny to yawn as he waited for signs of life to either grow more in Vince or appear at the front door of the apartment. When it became apparent that neither was going to happen, Danny got to his feet, phased from Vince's room and walked into the supposed parent's bed room. With the door closed, and a quick check in the hall via intangibility, he loomed over to the bedroom dresser…

It wasn't called snooping, thought Danny, it was making sure his many suspicions about Vince's parents being on a grand shopping spree were- as he was already guessing- completely wrong.

He pulled open one drawer.

Empty.

He pulled open another.

Empty.

And another.

A dusty little moth would have been more encouraging by now. However, it was also completely empty.

Eventually Danny blew caution to the wind as he checked the closet. Just as the drawers, they were completely barren except for the stray clothes hanger on one of the hooks.

No boxes, no moving crates with embarrassingly large photo albums, or vast collections of whatever! Had Danny known any better, he would have thought Vince's parents were ghosts! Come to think of it, Danny did _know better_, and simply knew the possibility of Vince having ghosts for parents was unlikely. Albeit, Danny had to remind himself that they could have died and thus be ghosts in that such way- but he wasn't about to believe the ghosts of Vince's parents were still living with him.

Checking on Vince again to find him still sleeping away his apparent illness, Danny returned to the master bedroom, this time making sure the door was locked, and changed in a flash of light to Danny Fenton. A second later, Danny had the cell phone out from his pant pockets and speed dialing Sam.

**DP**

Damn those drugs…

One had to admit, if Skulker wasn't the greatest hunter, he was certainly a master of poisons. However Vlad wasn't one to congratulate the ghost for his ways of tranquilizing his prey, especially given that he now knew how his prey would feel like after getting shot with one of his infernal darts.

He didn't know how long he had fallen to sleep, but seeing that he wasn't being carried around by a terrible excuse for a protagonist that he must have been out for a while. He was sure if Danny had shaken him or given him a few slaps it would have made the drug wear off faster, but since he had been handled carefully, Vlad was having trouble trying to open his eyelids.

When he managed to get one of them open a wave of relief washed over him as he saw his familiar room. Soon following it was a wave of dread.

Did Danny take him here? That question wasn't the haunting matter that made Vlad squirm lethargically in the attempts to regain movement in his limbs. What was more alarming to Vlad right now was: did he find out who I am not?

Vince lifted himself up when he had the control to do so, which felt rather dumb considering that the only thing he could move were his hands and arms. Without waiting for his legs to –excuse the pun- kick in, he wobbled over to the base of his bed using only his hands to look down at the duffle bag partially under his bed. Untouched.

Now normally he would know better to hide his money in places other than a duffle bag beneath his bed, but Vlad had no intentions to letting Daniel or anyone come into his 'home'. Yes, even though he had told Daniel truthfully where he 'currently' lived. It was a matter of making sure that if he or his friends decided to surprise their friend 'Vince' at his door, then at least they would be going to the one that he would answer to so he could usher them away from it. There is no better excuse than 'The place is being painted'.

Feeling began to tingle down his legs, which made his nerves jerk, if not shiver, due to his attempts to move. Playing fool to the painful tingles down his legs to his toes, Vlad got out from bed and to his feet as quietly as he could. This being the sound that someone makes when they fall out of bed, but guessing that Vlad could hear a voice speaking hastily from another room close by meant his fall went unnoticed.

Careful as to not stumble any more than he did, Vlad used whatever he could grab for to support himself until he managed to reach the door and open it. He could hear Danny's voice more clearly from across the hall in the spare bedroom. Leaning more on his bedroom door, Vlad strained in silence to hear Danny's one-sided conversation on what Vlad could guess was across a phone. He didn't have to strain too much, Danny was apparently very sure that Vince was still fast asleep.

"… nothing's here- yes, I know I thought that too, but I mean _nothing_ is here. Look, I even saw his bathroom, there's no extra tooth brushes for them. They just aren't here."

A moment of silence. Vlad bit his lower lip, wondering just who he was calling.

"Look, I'm not going to jump to any conclusions… if he had been hiding anything, I think it would be the fact that he's _living on his own._"

Well, Vlad sniffed. Assuming that he was seventeen, he thought it would be perfectly normal… Oh… right, right… grade ten- not college. Of course.

"What? No- Vince is still asleep… He's fine, I thought I'd stay just to be sure his parents would get home…"

Oh fudge. Vlad forgot about those…

"You… you don't suppose that maybe, er… maybe Vince is a runaway?"

Vlad could imagine anyone talking to Danny would counter that with 'Why'.

"I don't know! He's here all on his own, I don't see anything that could give me a reason to believe that he's a runaway- oh expect that he lied about having any parents- and the fact that there's nothing here to say that he has had guests recently stop by."

Touché Daniel. Vlad raised a brow, leaning forward still to hear the conversation.

Another moment of silence.

"How about 'let's not'? He hasn't done anything bad, and we don't even know if he's running away for a good reason."

Vlad was amused that Danny was taking his defense.

"… No, I- no… look, I know we've both been wrong about people before," Vlad wondered exactly who Danny was talking about. "For all we know, he could be all on his own. Alone." More alone than Danny knew. By now, Vlad was leaning heavily against the door, trying to keep his feet from collapsing under him. The door itself was shuddering from the poor balance Vlad was forcing on it along with his weight.

"… Okay. All I'm saying is that we should try and find out if he's okay… that's it. No messing with his life, right?"

Vlad hoped whoever was on the other end agreed. But before he could find out what the answer was, he felt the door give one more shudder and swing away. Still clutching the knob of the door, Vlad swayed with it, throwing himself off balance and forward to the ground.

**DP**

"Hold on," Danny was careful not to mention Sam's name just to be cautious "I think Vince is up." The definite sound of someone falling on the floor technically meant that Vince _was_ up, but was now currently down.

"All right, we'll talk about this later. You make sure Vince isn't trying to mess up _your_ life."

Sam had a point. She always had a point. Every reporter in the world wouldn't care if they were ripping apart the carcass of a teenage boy to get the scoop of the world. The yoke of their efforts would be the answers to the mystery of Amity's hero that had been haunting the world for nearly two years now.

Even so, there was no reason for Danny to believe Vince was a venturous page boy out to discover Danny's identity. "Later," the hybrid hung up the cell and pocketed it before taking his ghostly form in a flash of white light and using his most favorite talents as a ghost to turn invisible and intangible before peeking through the door of the empty bedroom into the hall.

There Danny found Vince sitting on the carpeted floor in the hall, one hand still hanging on the door and quietly swearing under his breath. He had to admit that Danny always found himself laughing a little whenever Vince was upset. This case was no different as the said teen struggled to his feet and heard a small chuckle float in the air.

"I- I know you're here," Vince started as his eyes darted around himself wearily.

Danny quieted himself and observed closely that Vince's limbs trembled. Was he scared? He looked it… Tired? He looked like that as well. Determined too. Deciding that he might actually get some answers about his vacant rooms and lack of parents, Danny turned visible.

Vince yelped and leapt backwards, releasing his grip from the door and ultimately anything that had been helping him stay his feet. Vince was once again a tumble of limbs on the floor.

"I didn't think you were _really_ here!"

Danny shrugged. "I'm a ghost, what would you expect?"

At this, Vince's eyes grew wide for a moment. Danny arched a brow. What _did_ he expect? "You aren't going to start haunting me, are you?" Vince asked, looking worried that he was right. Oh.

Danny huffed, forgetting that he shouldn't take this to heart. But really- where did people learn about ghosts? In a bathroom stall? "No, I have other things to do than scare people."

Vince visibly relaxed, which only made him slump down and lean his back to the door frame. His eyes, though, firmly glared at Danny suspiciously "Then why are you here?"

Danny resisted the need to roll his eyes. "Well you were asleep, and you looked like crap. Leaving you on the streets wasn't going to help."

"And you're still here, because?"

"To make sure you're feeling better than crap now."

"Why?"

This caught Danny off guard. The ghostly hybrid hovered in the air idly as Vincent gingerly moved himself over to sit in his bed. Danny, frustrated that he found himself taking longer to answer that, swooped over and helped the struggling teen onto his bed covers. Vince looked oddly disturbed with the assistance, but too absorbed in the question, Danny didn't notice.

"I dunno- it's the right thing to do…"

"What if I was a bad person?" Vince said, deciding to find his socked feet more interesting to watch while asking this.

"You'd expect me to leave them behind?" Danny frowned when his answer shocked Vince.

"Yes, actually."

Whoa hold it… Danny brows knitted together, fixing his bright green eyes on Vince. In the time that he knew him, he didn't think Vince would have himself such a low esteem for society; the very same society that Danny spent protecting and in and out of his daily life. He didn't know if he should feel insulted that Vince would think he protected people that shouldn't be protected. But then again, Danny already knew that there were some people he wouldn't like to protect because he didn't like them…

But that didn't make them bad.

Shaking his head, Danny waved away the deep conversation in the back of his mind.

"Whatever, I don't think you're a bad person, even though it looks like you have some things to hide."

"Yeeaah…" Vince raised a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it lightly as his gaze gradually rose back to Danny. "Would you believe it if I told you my mom and dad were out on a huge shopping spree?"

"Been there, thought that." Danny said, arms folding in front of his chest confidently. Danny was expecting to elicit some frustration in Vince, but as he glanced down at Vince's silvery white hair, he saw him slouch further with his head down.

"Uh, what's going on…?" Danny asked slowly.

Vince's head shot up, blinking at Danny as though he was startled once more by his presence. As if Vince was going to be any more unpredictable, the teen clenched his fists and stared up at Danny gravely. "Don't tell anyone."

Danny was expecting something like banter or another poor excuse for his parents' absence… he didn't know why, but it seemed so natural between him and Vince. But rather than trying to smoothly talk his way out of answering him, Vince submitted, just like that.

"What?" Danny said, not really sure what better else to say.

Vince repeated himself, this time more earnestly. "Don't tell anyone that I'm living on my own, _please._"

"I'm a ghost, who do you think is going to believe me?"

"Just, could you not? I don't want anyone knowing." Vince sounded desperate. It made Danny feel awkward.

Although, the hybrid was teetering over the choice of telling someone- more specifically someone that could help- or not and let the student go on pretending he had parents to see at night. A few more seconds of thought and Danny's mind was made up by the pleading look Vince gave him. Danny grimaced and erased the idea of telling anyone that he hadn't already. Sam knew to keep secrets, and he was sure she wouldn't try to blackmail Vince… mostly.

"All right… I won't tell if you tell me why you're living on your own."

Vince looked wary, but, guessing that a half ghost hero floating in the air in his room would probably be freakishly weird for him, so the reaction was understandable. "… I'm trying to stay away from a bad person…"

**DP**

Had Vlad been more truthful he might have said: 'I'm trying to figure out why I am here in this apartment, talking to you, and _not_ finding out a way to fix my absurd problem.' But in doing so, it might have made things harder for him to accomplish his goals.

It was also a good thing that Vlad was an unsung master of lies. He might have been proud of how well he tricked Daniel if he hadn't realized that his fib was making the boy worry about him…

Correction, Vince.

Either way, the feeling made him squirm uncomfortably as Daniel left his apartment with his answers. It could have been the poison still fading from his system, or that always present ache in his chest that he so often ignored. It could have, but the once-older halfa doubted that.

He had intended to get close to Danny through a simple friendship, get into Danny's lab long enough and find a way to reverse the effects of his change. Simply phasing into his home wouldn't do him much good… He needed a lab to work in and he didn't know how much time he would need to fix his age altering problem.

There was one thing he had forgotten about his plan: himself.

Things were easier said than done, and as Vlad continued to act the role of 'friend of Danny', Vlad realized something crucially sad about his life that made him falter: He had forgotten how it felt to see someone concerned about him.

It might have been a nice feeling if he wasn't lying through his teeth every day and the fact that he _knew_ everything he said was partially untrue.

Okay… Everything he said was a complete load of bull.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

**Thanks to: **_Rae-nu, gothgrrl13, Dream's Abyss, Contradictory Orien, Reptilian Goddess, Rya Starling, ArmoredSoul, Kute-kat509, ffnetlove, Dark, Juukai, _and _Golden Feathers Edward. _Also, a warm thanks to T_ye-died Trickster_ for being beta.


	9. Spite or Affection

In A Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters. There will be _two_ (at least) _original characters_ in this story of significance.

**Note Five: **Well apparently the '--' I've been using to separate my sections/POV's are pulled out of my chapters when I submit these on FFnet. So to solve this, I'm opting to replace them with **'DP'**

**DP**

**Chapter 8**

**Spite or Affection**

'_It's amazing how someone can have a broken heart, but still fall in love with someone else using all the little pieces.'_

Perhaps trusting Sam wasn't the best thing to do when the person she most trusted secrets with besides Danny was Tucker. Fortunately, just as Sam was quiet about it, so was Tucker. Although that only accounted for being quiet about it with other people besides the ones that already knew about said secret. Danny learned of Tucker's knowing of Vince's strange situation moments after his arrival at school.

"Sam, did you have to tell him?" Danny managed with a weak look to the alert and mindful goth.

"You expect me not to tell him? Tucker's our friend. And so is Vince… regrettably," Sam retorted. "Besides, now that we all know about this, we'll be able to avoid topics that'll make Vince uncomfortable."

This was true, and as much as Danny wanted to admit it, there was just one thing that slipped out of Sam's loop.

"Since when has that stopped Tucker from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time?" Danny asked as he moved up along the line next to Sam in the cafeteria. It was lunch and so far it was about the only time Danny had to spare a moment away from Tucker and Vince. It was a good thing Tucker had a fond hatred for veggies. Even if he wasn't preoccupied with entertaining Vince, Tucker wouldn't bother to come near Sam and Danny, who were currently shuffling down the small food line in the vegetarian section.

Sam looked critically at Danny when she caught on to his comment. Tucker _wasn't_ very good at keeping secrets sometimes. However, Sam persevered.

"Doesn't matter- secrets are a no-go between us," She snipped while piling her tray with a series of green goods that were indistinguishable from one another to Danny. Danny let them be, both food and her statement, and pushed on to the more devastating result of Sam telling Tucker about Vince's little secret.

"But why did he have to arrange a sleepover at _my _house?"

"That's easy; he felt sorry about Vince's having no parents, and thought it'd be a good idea that he spend time with another family and feel included. Something wrong with that?" Sam wasn't missing the point, but she had every intention of ignoring Danny's hyper-animated fear of revealing his parents to his new friend.

"Yeah – no, no, it's fine – perfectly fine." Danny fidgeted in the lineup and looked at the only thing he had taken from the vegetable line; carrots and beans. "… But why _my_ house?"

"You're the only one who wasn't grounded for being kidnapped by ghosts."

"Exactly how did that happen, again?"

"Your parents weren't home to hear about you skipping school."

"Ah…" Although Danny had an explanation now, he wasn't feeling at all better about the idea of bringing Vince to his house. He had _things_ to do... Sam was quick to catch on to Danny's unsure expression while they walked together to a vacant table carrying their trays. To comfort his uneasy mind, Sam shrugged and smirked at her close friend. Sam wasn't the type to be all that comforting for a reluctant soul.

"Feel merciful. Vince sounded really happy when Tuck told him," Sam offered as a consolation prize. Danny huffed indignantly as he sat down.

"Yeah, but he hasn't met my parents yet."

"Ah…" This still didn't change anything, and while Danny had yet to tell anyone why he felt so uncomfortable with having Vince at his home, he fell silent and picked at his food. Sam might have questioned Danny and she might have attempted to pry open those few rare secrets he withheld from everyone, but nothing past a short look of inquisition got by when Tucker arrived at the cafeteria table with Vince at his tail.

"Oh man- this guy is old school, Danny!" He made a motion to the pale haired teen sitting across from him. "Did you know he hasn't even played Doom yet?"

"Well it doesn't sound very enlightening…" Vince drawled, having been insulted enough that Tucker thought he was strange for not playing such an absurd-sounding game.

"That's the point." Trust Tucker to have no shame when it came to anything electronic.

"Danny… You're going to have fun showing him how to play that game tonight! I'd join yeah online and all, but…" Tucker shrugged his shoulders. "Grounded."

"Yeah… grounded." Danny mumbled, like it was his temporary arch nemesis. Attempting to change his mood to avoid making his friends uncomfortable, Danny piped up the only, and most inevitable, question that was created from Tucker's kind, if thoughtless, suggestion.

"So what time would you like to come over?"

**DP**

Within the Fenton lab, in the silence of the afternoon, the ghost portal was slowly but gradually pried open. No one was around to hear the scraping of metal or the low grumble of a significantly annoyed ghost. No one was around to witness the wisp of spectral entity slip out and settle on the floor of the lab.

"Something isn't right," the Heart Thief snarled. Following after its minion was considerably easy, especially when the same minion had its eye in his chest. However, the moment the thief left the portal to the human world, it realized that there were many things wrong.

One of which was the general appearance of the time. The Heart Thief hadn't left its domain in a few centuries. At the very least, the Heart Thief was expecting some form of bloody carnage out here… True, the eye in Erik's chest gave it a humble forewarning about how… passive humanity had become, but it was still unnatural to stand in this world where the first thing it saw was a heap of stainless steel walls and gadgets to a 'Fenton' lab.

It wasn't a very welcoming sight for a ghost.

Secondly, as the Heart Thief looked this way and that, it realized to an astonished feat that it was picking up on its old curse. And it was nowhere near Erik or the young boy he was stalking, but rather close by. Scowling, the Heart Thief settled to solving this once and for all… Perhaps then, it would understand why its spell had been broken in the first place.

To its thrill, the curse was close and calling wildly for the Heart Thief to recover it. As any ghost composed of ectoplasm, to be separated from a little bit of itself hampered a sense of detachment. Just as Erik had its other eye and knew where it was, the Heart Thief could tell where its curse was…

And it was close.

Retrieving the curse wasn't so terribly hard. After finding the small canister of violent energy sitting on a counter top, the Heart Thief phased a hand into the object and earned a nasty burn that nearly rotted away its hand. It was easy – but painful. This, however, didn't bother the ghost as terribly as seeing the condition its curse had been reduced to.

Nothing but broken links, chains, and curled bars that once ensnared a delicately large heart. Its curse was the remnants of a mass of rust and decay.

What could have done _this_ to its curse? Let alone steal all this energy… there was something terribly wrong with seeing all of this detached energy… Certainly the one missing all of that energy was…

Oh.

The ghost smiled unpleasantly. So this explained a lot… Why its prey looked like a small child now, and why its spell had been broken… The Heart Thief later scowled at the idea that something could have 'sucked' so much energy, including its curse, and still let the victim survive.

It might have even liked the interesting mechanism if it stole hearts. But it didn't, and all that energy being here was tasteless and quite possibly very hot. It would more likely burn its tongue off literally if the Heart Thief had decided to drink it.

Now that the remains of its curse were back in its control, the Heart Thief set out to find its poor victim. Erik was, albeit with little vigor, doing a good job keeping a distant 'eye' on the victim. The same victim was, as the Heart Thief could only figure, probably itching to regain his missing energy.

This made the Heart Thief confident in its belief that if it was to catch this boy staying in this town would be best. This did not mean it was safe to wait in this room, though, particularly after ten minutes of snooping around in the strange lab the Heart Thief nearly gained a hole through its stomach from a mean-looking ghost weapon.

It phased out of the strange building and into the modern world to settle down securely in a place to test out the guise it had picked out. Erik continued to watch, and the Heart Thief continued to listen, while it uncorked a small flask within an alley.

Somewhere in the ghost zone, deep within the Heart Thief's domain, a pale-faced ghost began to tremble. She immediately knew something was wrong when the Heart Thief raised the mouth of the flask to its blackened lips.

It was generally a small heart, thought the Thief, but red and tangy with passion. It could smell the sweet scent as the substance inside of the flask slipped forward.

The heartless ghost within the ghost zone began to shudder and hold her arms. She didn't know what was happening, and yet she did know that she was going to lose the one thing she had wanted to care for – the one thing for which she always obeyed that wretched thief – the one thing that kept her from unraveling in despair…

And the Heart Thief was eating it.

It glided down the cracked throat that proceeded to change and sooth the Thief's neglected insides. A few gulps more and the Heart Thief could feel it slide into place where its original heart once lay. The next moment it began to throb and beat hastily, pumping temporary life throughout the Thief's body. Over its brittle limbs it could feel the tingle of nerves react to the tempo of the new heart it watched with its single eye as its body began to adapt to the heart's fondest desire.

Had the little ghost within the ghost zone been there to see it, she might have been tearfully happy to see someone that she once loved, but with the pain of losing her heart, and the feeling of losing the last thing she knew existed, the ghost crumbled into herself and stopped moving.

She began to fade away into nothing while the Heart thief looked over its- correction- _his_ new appearance. The clothing was still out of date, but nothing that brief phasing through a store to retrieve what he wanted could cure his problem. True, with an eye still missing, he would still possess some abnormalities; he would have to find something to hide this until he reunited with Erik. But until then, the Heart Thief smiled wickedly with his plump new lips and pocketed the empty flask while Erik continued to spy on young Vincent Morgens and his so called family.

**DP**

Vince was quiet about his kidnapping by Skulker. Which was 'okay', because it could have been worse. However, Sam and Tucker, who both experienced the same ordeal, were worried that Vince also opted to act like nothing ever happened to _them_. That was _not_ okay.

It was understandable that Vince wouldn't say anything to Danny – since he was technically never there – but Sam and Tucker experienced the same thing as Vince; therefore. there should have been some kind of reaction he might have saved just for Sam and Tucker, but they received nothing.

Not a blink, a sideways glance, or shudder at the mention of yesterday's haunting. It was like Vince was immune to it all and if someone, including Sam and Tucker, attempted to investigate this issue with Vince. They earned only a small shrug and smile.

"I'm okay."

"It was interesting."

"It was nothing."

It _was_ something, Danny thought, and there was something that was keeping Vince from acting like a normal teenager would after becoming a saved civilian! Everyone loved to tell their stories about being saved by Danny Phantom! Danny had caught on to a number of stories about him rescuing students from certain peril – some of which were entirely untrue – but the point in question was that people liked to have a story to tell. His gimmicks were usually a good cocktail conversation to have with pals, and yet Vince failed to see that and remained silent about his ordeal even when someone recognized his face and asked him how he got away from the ghost hunter's mechanical grasp.

Although Danny would never admit to it, he somehow found himself feeling annoyed that he wasn't the first thing on Vince's mind since the kidnapping. He was a damn hero! What else was Vince looking for?

Out of fear of sounding narcissistic, Danny opted not to bring the topic up with Sam and Tucker. Instead, Danny decided that he might try discerning some answers from Vince during his stay for the night. After all, what was a good sleepover without telling some kind of haunting story about ghosts if games weren't enough to distract them?

And Danny was sure that Vince wasn't the type to play games.

This didn't mean he was bad at them.

Danny won a few rounds in the beginning, but the moment Vince understood which button did what there was no way Vince would let Daniel win against him. It struck Danny as funny that Vince never seemed like the competitive sort. But then again, there was a lot he didn't know about Vince that he was soon planning to find out.

Introducing Vince to Danny's parents wasn't as bad as he suspected either. Vince apparently took his father's eccentric love for ghosts with an amused shrug, and was eerily quiet when his mother was in the same room as him. Danny didn't know what that was, and when he bothered to ask, Vince would have shaken his head and then – with the most irritating of grins that Danny had learned to remember – say:

"Damn, your mom's hot."

Danny knew he was joking because after shoving the teen and telling him to shut up, Vince was already laughing. More than he thought was necessary.

Dinner was possibly the second most interesting part of the night. Besides the fact that on a normal basis, dinner was always interesting if one wasn't used to hearing about ghosts while passing the salt across the table. Because Danny's mom was in the room again, Vince was quiet, giving Danny's dad the opportunity to tell the guest of his newest invention. It was all going pretty well, considering Vince didn't seem too disturbed about the talk of ghosts, but when Jack got to talking about the 'Ghost Minor', Vince perked up out of the blue.

"What does it do?" Vince asked, lowering his fork to his meatloaf dinner.

"What, The Ghost Minor? Oh, nothing right now. I'm in the middle of fixing it up."

Vince paled and Danny raised a brow curiously while watching his friend. "Oh... Why?"

"Well, I wanted to make it stun ghosts in addition to sucking all of that ecto energy! That, and I haven't figured out a way to convert the stored energy into a useable source without blowing up the block… See, I think it's because I misjudged the amount of stunning component needed for something with an ectoplasmic body-"

"Oh, I don't think it's that, honey." Maddie interjected. "It's possible that you didn't have it set on the right frequency to effect ghosts."

"Ooh no, no, if that was the case, the entire shot would have had no effect…" Jack and Maddie gradually started their bout on ghost hunting science, encouraging both teenagers to stare intently at the two adults as they bickered over dinner. It reminded Danny of the many times that his parents argued about the existence of Santa Claus. Moving, really, but Danny decided to push Vince out of his chair when most of their food had been eaten and lead him up to his room.

Vince didn't need to hear all about the strange science of ghosts. Even Danny wasn't sure about half the things his parents came up with. And all this talk of ghosts usually bothered Danny when he heard his parents discuss about how to dematerialize his ghost self into a pile of goo, but at least the topic was a good enough excuse to bring up ghosts while the two stepped into Danny's room.

"So… have you had any experiences with ghosts?" The target was an inch in front of his nose, and even Vince saw how ridiculous a question that was.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I mean besides yesterday."

Vince shifted quietly in his place, glancing over his shoulder and back hesitantly. For a moment, Danny was worried that seeing his ghost hunting parents wasn't enough proof that his family, including Danny, believed in ghosts. Heck, everyone in Amity did. But before he gave up all hope, he heard Vince speak up a little over a whisper.

"Yes."

**DP**

Heading to Daniel's house for the night seemed generally like the perfect idea to get into the Fenton works and find a way to reverse the effects of his… problem. It was complete dumb luck that someone like Tucker came up with this option. However, Daniel didn't offer to let him into the lab, nor did he bother to mention it. Perhaps he was still too new of a friend to be granted access into the Fenton's lab. Nothing that a bit of skulking in the early morning when everyone is asleep to solve the problem…

No, it wouldn't matter even if he snuck in unnoticed into the Fenton Lab. After dinner that night, Vlad was dismally brought to attention now that he couldn't simply steal his energy back. If what Jack's statement was true, there wasn't a way to make all that energy he had lost into a source that he can regain if Jack's statement was true. All of it was just one huge ball of pummeling waiting to make contact outside of the canister...

And decimate anything within a hundred foot radius.

Those very thoughts could have been a very good excuse as to why Vlad was looking so pale, but another part of him couldn't lie about the effect Maddie had on him even now.

It wasn't love whenever Vlad saw her walk into the room. It was a feeling of complete emptiness rattling his rib cage and an unstable quake in the marrow of his bones. They were feelings that made him wonder just exactly why he had spent so many years pining for her, or why he decided that now – of all times! – that he began to notice how old she had become. He didn't know, but he certainly intended to find out the meaning of all this… Once he looked old enough to court someone that age.

Ironically, telling Daniel the truth about what he thought about his mother earned him a laugh and a playful shove to the shoulder. It was Strange how he got a different reaction due to his current ag- appearance. Was there some kind of running joke that teens had today that he didn't know about? Vlad thought he was being fresh.

Jokes aside, dinner was sufferable to the point that Vince was actually reluctant to leave and miss out in the argument between Daniel's parents, but as Daniel's new friend, Vince wasn't supposed to be interested in such things about the 'Ghost Minor' or how it worked, even if that was the only real reason why he was there for. He was lead (led) into Daniels room where they had earlier thrown open a cot next to Daniel's bed and placed Vince's overnight belongings on it.

Still too early for sleep – if that's what either of them had planned – Daniel brought up the one topic that Vince had been avoiding since that morning.

Anything but ghosts. They were too close to home, really. That's why he wanted to avoid being the one to talk about them. He didn't want Daniel to make the words 'ghost' and 'Vince' synonymous. And he certainly didn't want the name Vlad, Wisconsin, or Plasmius to come within hearing range of him.

And yet… that was exactly what Daniel wanted. Ghost stories.

"So, what types of ghosts have you seen outside of Amity?" Daniel asked lazily and flopped into his own bed with his feet on his pillow and his head over the end of the bed. After earlier inspection of the room, Vlad realized Daniel had himself a number of comic books under the foot of his bed, a mediocre sized television set with a few of the latest games, posters of various popular music bands such as the irrefutably noisy 'Dumpty Humpty' group, and finally, astronaut related paraphernalia. A small model of a space shuttle lazily hung in the air over Daniel's bed, accompanied by little stars and planets that potentially glowed in the dark. The first time Vlad had actually been in Daniel's room made him smirk. Daniel was a real teenage card. So full of hopes and dreams of some nearly unreachable goal…

Vlad was getting distracted and realized with a wave of Daniel's hand that he had forgotten to answer him.

"-Oh lots, I've seen lots." What did he ask him? Something about-

"Ghosts? Really? Like what?" Daniel asked as he swung his arms behind his head and looked at him curiously.

_Why_ did he have to answer him like _that_? 'I've seen lots' Wonderful job, Vince. You win at failing!

"Er… well… the usual… I suppose," Vince raised a hand to scratch the back of his head hesitantly. Daniel looked at him incredulously.

"'The usual?'"

Great… Might as well be adding another nail to the coffin, Vince.

"Eeyeah. You know… like the ones that look like white bed sheets with holes in them?" Daniel did not look very amused by Vince's answer.

"Right, so tell me, when did you see these usual ghosts?"

It was alarming how much Vlad wanted to smack Daniel for being so obvious with his half lidded expression and smart little grin. He did have a good reason to be cheeky about this, particularly when Vlad was having a miserable time trying to make up a story about seeing a ghost now. He was more startled with himself than annoyed at Daniel because he couldn't come up with a simple lie about something as trivial as a ghost.

Why not tell him the truth? Vlad banked. Who the hell would ever suggest something as – as ridiculous as _that?_ _Vince_. Vlad mentally rolled his eyes.

"…Um, well… Back at home, there used to be an old abandoned barn, right? Completely hidden in this hollow behind my parent's home… I used to go there when I was…younger, and at night, I figured that there was an animal that was living in that old place." Vince waved his hand dismissively while he sat into his cot. The story wasn't entirely accurate, mainly because he was around the age of the fifteen when he saw his first ghost. Any younger, and he might have been too scared at the sight of these ghosts to feel a sense of curiosity towards them.

"It wasn't an animal?"

"Well it was, just not living." This, regrettably, got the boy's attention and Vince had to further retell the first time he saw a ghost. Of course, he opted not to tell him that the next time he saw the same ghost, he had every intentions of catching it and performing a series of experiments, from poking it with a stick to seeing if it could survive underwater. His first attempts never gained him any results either way because he didn't know how to catch them, but that was then, and right now he had no intention to tell Daniel of his fascination for ghosts.

From one truthful story about ghosts, Vince told another, and then another, all of them with their interesting and funny quirks. He was careful to change some of his encounters by the time he noticed they would be too familiar to Daniel or far too strange for a normal teenager to have witnessed. He had enough of them to last hours. After all, Vlad had always been fascinated by the idea of ghosts as much as Jack was. Vlad just knew better to keep himself preserved when he had parents that frowned at the very idea of a spectral orb.

Vince didn't realize it then, but he and Daniel had eventually spent the night talking about ghosts like two normal teenagers talking about the times they met up with the strangest of people. Ghost gossip, in other words. It was grossly reminding of the first time Vlad had ever spoken with Jack about ghosts, only Daniel wasn't yelling and he wasn't talking about how 'radical' it would be to hunt them.

Vince wasn't the only one to tell a little about his first experiences with ghosts. Daniel started to tell Vince of some of his own experiences, some of which Vlad recognized as _slightly_ adjusted versions to avoid spilling the biggest secret of his teenage life. Vlad didn't mind this at all, considering that he was doing the same, but he found it funny when he knew when Daniel was lying. Danny had a lot more to say about ghosts, considering that he could use his parents as an excuse for having run into so many of them.

One thing led to another and Vince eventually found himself forgetting why he was afraid to talk about ghosts in the first place. Danny simply wanted to hear something different than the tales he'd heard in Amity. Vlad didn't mind confiding in some of his studies on ghosts with the exception of changing some of them around. However, as evening became the middle of the night, the two had summed up as many of their stories to one another without letting either of them suspect the other was a hybrid.

"Ghosts are rather interesting," Vince sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of Daniel's bed room.

"And more." Danny added in a similar contemplative voice.

"To bad they're all evil in some way or another," Vince mentioned, glancing up at Danny in his bed, curious to hear what he has to say about that statement.

"Huh, oh no. I don't think all of them are evil. Okay… yeah, Amity doesn't have a good reputation for having 'friendly' ghosts, but I'm sure there are some."

"…Name one."

"Well… I guess that box ghost doesn't count really... There was this wolf ghost I saw once."

"You mean the one you told me that terrorized your school for a few days?"

"Uh yeah, never mind…" Danny said distantly. He knew better than to try convincing Vince that Wulf was a 'good' ghost without simultaneously saying he was Danny Phantom. That aside, Vlad wanted to prove to Daniel that there was no such thing as a good ghost or a bad ghost. However, when Vince thought he won that argument hands down, Danny spoke up once more.

"Hmm… There is the Wisconsin Ghost I guess."

Vince looked at Daniel as if he just told him that he thought _he_ was considered _a good ghost_ to _him_. Oh, that's right… he just did.

He did? Vince stared blankly.

"The what?"

"No, ignore what I just said." Danny was a little alarmed by the expression on Vince's face and decided to give up before he dug himself a hole too deep to jump out of. "It's just a ghost story I heard about a while back."

"Who's the Wisconsin Ghost?" Vince urged on, sounding unusually interested in this ghost that Danny had failed to mention.

"… Well, he's not a friendly ghost – I mean, he is but then he's not in so many other ways," Danny began with an almost futile look across his face. Vince would have smirked considering how hard the boy was looking for 'good' in him. But he couldn't help but wonder what was plowing through Daniel's mind.

"This would really help if you actually told me who you were talking about," Vince egged on, feeling like this was a very rare opportunity for him to hear something about himself from Daniel.

"Ah, it's just this ghost that haunts this mansion up in Wisconsin." Vince scrunched his nose up briefly, feeling insulted.

"Okay, what makes him friendly?"

"That's just it. He isn't really friendly at all in the way you're thinking. He just does things in all the wrong ways." An interesting way of looking at things, Vlad thought. But he wanted to hear more about this… Wisconsin Ghost.

"… Like what?"

"He's in love – I think," Danny added to make sure he didn't sound too familiar with the said ghost. "He's in love with someone that is already with someone else."

"And this is bad, because?"

"Because, I mean, the story goes that he tries to kill the competition. He's so obsessed with the things he can't have that he'd go as far as wait twenty years or something like that just to have an opportunity with this one person who doesn't really like him… at all!"

Vlad decided that somehow Daniel had lost this argument without Vince having to say anything about the matter, and he wasn't going to recover, but he decided to give the boy one more chance to explain himself and Vince asked:

"How is he good, then?"

"That's just it. He _can_ be good." And here Vlad thought Daniel saw the world in black and white. Vince was quiet and Daniel continued on, unaware of the confused look on Vince's face. "If he didn't have to obsess over someone he can't have, he might actually find someone else that could care for him."

"And you expect someone else would like something like that?" Vince asked without thinking. Immediately he regretted to hear how Danny was going to answer that. However, the response wasn't anything that Vince had expected.

"Well he's not bad looking."

"Dude!" A funny word Vince picked up after hanging out with Danny _far too much_.

"What?" It dawned on Danny about what he just said and he began to flush bright red. "Wha- no, no-ah no!" he said, rolling onto his stomach and then onto his knees. "I don't mean it like that!" He waved his hands, earning a comical smirk from Vince. "For girls! Come on! The girls would probably like him!"

"Uh huh. Never knew you had a good introspection on the feminine point of view, Danny."

"Well I could be wrong, jeeze. Maybe the Wisconsin Ghost will be hopelessly evil and hopelessly alone for all eternity."

Ouch. Danny didn't know how close to home those words struck. Vince shrugged it off while forcing down the urge to clutch his aching chest in front of the boy.

"Maybe," Vince replied as he rested back into his cot and yawned, faking drowsiness. Danny looked to his bedroom clock and spied the time. Vince already knew it was a little past two in the morning but from the look on Danny's face, he had lost track of time.

"Yeah, maybe… He'd need to give up first to start over again." Vince heard Danny as the youth leaned over his bed and flicked off the light. Vince allowed himself to grimace in the dark while he noticed the sound of Daniel sighing.

He wasn't feeling totally dejected by Daniel's comment really. After all, it was Daniel. He hadn't really given him much of a reason to look at Vlad Masters in a different point of view other than arch nemesis and assassin of his father. It was still interesting that Daniel thought that _maybe_ there was a chance. Was there? Vince wasn't sure at the moment, so he settled to shifting onto his side and resting back neatly. There were too many things wrong with him to know what was right.

"Maybe he's already given up," Vince muttered as he closed his eyes. He figured Daniel didn't hear him because he didn't respond.

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**

Thank you for the reviews guys. More to come of course.


	10. Forgotten Welcoming

In a Heart Beat

**In a Heart Beat**

**Warnings:** VladXDanny. If you don't like it, sorry. Here is a complimentary tissue, unused. There might be some language to keep note of.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own, nor earn any profit with butchering/creating a different story based on Butch Hartman's Danny Phantom characters from Nickelodeon. There will be one (at least) _original character_ in this story of significance.

**DP**

**Chapter 9**

**Forgotten Welcoming**

'_Love is as much of an object as it is an obsession. Everyone wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it. Those who do will, cherish it, be lost in it, and never…never forget it.' – Curtis Judalet_

It was time to catch his prey.

Vlad had been playing around far too much for the Heart Thief's tastes. He couldn't understand at first why the naïve man wouldn't just ghost into the lab and steal the item of his desire. The Heart Thief knew how easy it would have been just to grab the useless object and forsake this haunted town forever, but then it noticed something…

Vlad's heart was acting up.

Curious little thing.

The Thief always knew he had found himself something special when he first laid eyes on him, but to see such a blackened heart slowly revive was something he had never seen before. And the Heart Thief had seen many hearts to know how near impossible it was. Possible, but phenomenal.

Indeed inquisitive with the new discovery, the Heart Thief settled to putting his hunt on hold just to watch closely through Erik's extra eye. 'Vince', as the man cleverly went by, was having issues with his own heart. It was like watching a tug of war battle out within the man's ravaged chest. A portion of the heart was refusing to recover- afraid to brighten and show its true colors to the world. It was almost as motionless and relentlessly lifeless as a rock whereas the other half of his heart was reaching out, thriving and beating avidly with its flecks of gold and royal blue veins.

What an interesting situation that the Heart Thief had found him in… His first plans had been to apprehend the poor man and treat the heart with another incantation to soften the hardened shell, but it looked as though someone else had already been sanding off the rough edges of his damaged heart. And rather well, he dared to compliment.

Whoever was causing these subtle changes was certainly worth the observation. If this person could nurse Vince's heart without knowing it was, it would be a heart worth hunting for. And what better way to find out who the mystery girl is than to keep an eye on his targets heart?

There was one little problem… The Heart Thief was getting very annoyed with this boy, 'Danny', for taking up Vince's time. True, the heart was lively- strong and amiable- but it looked far too young and gentle to dare press against his target's rough and poisonous vital organ. There must be someone else. This 'Danny' character was getting in the way and the Heart Thief was growing impatient.

Perhaps it was time to meddle with the old fool's heart one more time. Maybe then he would find the answer to this new obscurity. And the Heart Thief knew just how he was going to go about this…

Heartless servants were always so good at spying. There wasn't one thing that he didn't know about the second life of Vlad Masters. Thanks to the his heartless slave, Erik, the Heart Thief knew more about Vlad Masters' double life as 'Vince' than anyone else. And it looked as though Vince was missing an important piece to his charade: Parents.

The Heart Thief decided he could solve a part of that problem.

**DP**

That was the most different sleepover Danny had experienced in a while. Come to think of it, the phrase 'sleepover' felt far too childish for how last night's discussion ended. Better yet, he doubted it was very ordinary at all. Danny felt more comfortable thinking that Vince had just stayed for a 'visit'.

He really couldn't remember by morning how the topic had traveled from ghosts all the way to Vlad, but then again, Danny had only to guess that eventually anything about ghosts would lead to Plasmius at one point or another. Still though… It left Danny thinking over the conversation for more than an hour before he fell asleep.

Danny really did leak out a few things to Vince that he had never dared telling Sam or Tucker about. True, he had lied a lot that night, but there were so many truths in his falsehoods that neither Sam nor Tucker had ever heard of. It was only Vince though, so it was all right. Nothing could possibly bite him in the ass for telling Vince some ghost stories. That aside, he was sure his two closest friends would also think he was crazy because they actually knew who Plasmius was.

But Vince didn't… so that made things okay, Danny figured.

It was definitely vague enough that Vince wouldn't think anything of it by the morning. In fact the first thing that was brought up was what was available for breakfast in the afternoon. Danny suspected that Vince was just curious about his family's love for ghosts. Besides hunting for something to eat, Vince had a number of curious questions for his parents that even Danny hadn't thought of asking. He couldn't blame him for the morbid curiosity; Vince had his own share of ghost tales that bluntly told Danny that 'he was interested'.

The thought later became amusing to Danny as he considered Vince's passive interest towards Danny Phantom. Rather than trying to rip him apart molecule by molecule, Danny gathered the sort of idea that Vince was more content in just… talking with a ghost, maybe poking at him a little. Harmlessly. The idea later became cute and Danny deliberately started to ignore it for the preservation of his masculine perspective.

Besides Sam and Tucker, Danny knew most people would scream and run away, or idolize him. Not try to understand him. While popping a Pizza Pocket into the microwave the thought had left Danny grinning to himself absently while he watched Vince pick at his own brunch with a disgruntled look across his face.

"What? You don't like pizza pockets?" Danny asked idly.

"I have nothing against them. I'd just like to know what I'm putting in my mouth." He made a look as a bit of cheese and sauce oozed out from the side of the baked bread. Vince took the packaging box from the dinner table and began reading it, earning a laugh from Danny.

"It's pizza."

"Says you." Vince snorted without taking his eyes off from the box.

Danny was about to point out that the name of the product might be a big clue as to what he was eating when he heard the door bell ring.

He put a hold on the discussion and left the kitchen to answer the door. But before he could reach the door knob, his father jumped out from the living room and announced quickly, "I'll get it!" And easily got a hold of the door before Danny and yanked it open.

At the door there stood a man who was dressed in a clean dark suit. His hands were casually hidden inside of two comfortably large pockets at his hips. This seemed all reasonably normal to Danny, except for the fact that the man had an eye patch covering his left eye and looked like he had gone a day or two without shaving.

Oh, and his ghost senses immediately went off.

"Afternoon! You must be Danny's father, right?" Before even Jack could say anything, the man continued while looking into his house curiously. "Wonderful. I'm looking for Vincent. He wouldn't happen to be here still?"

Frowning Danny watched as Jack answered, "Yep," and, without an ounce of politeness, Danny cut in and asked: "Who are you?" Earning a glance in his general direction from the one-eyed man, Danny frowned.

"Oh, how foolish of me. My name is David Morgens. Vincent's father."

At this point, alarm bells began to ring in Danny's mind as he stared up into the man's single uncovered eye. "I'm just going to be picking him up now." Jack appeared to be perfectly all right with this, but while Danny's mind began to realize the potential threat that Vince was in, Jack spoke up.

"Well come on in, David! Danny here has been making great friends with Vince," he said cheerily.

"So I've heard. But I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a hurry.'

It was at that moment that there was a muffled popping noise and briefly Danny first assumed it was his mind. However, Vince and his impeccable timing had stepped out into the hall to correct his claim. "Your Pizza has exploded, Danny. You can have mine instead though." By this time Vince realized there was someone at the door still; he paused to stare up at him blankly without a single inkling of recognition.

"Ah Vince! There you are. Your mother and I didn't know how long you would be staying here, so I decided I ought to pick you up now." David smiled cheerily to Vince. Danny turned his attention to Vincent to rely on Vince's expression to prove his assumptions about this man. And like a book, Danny could read the clear and defined words in large font 'What the fudge?' written across his face. He watched the teen's mouth fall open in shock and gape in confusion. That was truth enough for Danny at this point. But what confused Danny more was that Vince quickly went to fix his expression when he caught Danny's look.

"Ah… ye…eah…" he said slowly as he turned to Danny and fleetingly to Jack. He didn't move to step forward. Jack, however, moved to step out of the way of the door and admit the man into his house, and David immediately moved past the two Fentons to take Vince by his arm and direct him out.

"I'm sorry I can't stay and chat. I hope Vince was good during his stay here," he said, smiling still even as it was obvious that Vince was being half dragged to the door.

"He was great! He's welcome to stay any time. Maybe next time Danny can show him around the lab-"

"Well that's wonderful; maybe he can do this again. It was nice meeting you, but we'll be going now." Danny was ashamed that his father couldn't tell there was something suspicious with the way he was in such a hurry to leave as they stepped out of the door. Unfortunately, Danny couldn't do anything without tipping off that he knew that this was impossible.

Vince didn't have parents. That was the whole reason of this 'visit' in the first place!

Vince and David were out the door already. The latter was forcing the former to walk with a white knuckled grip around his arm down the street. Jack stood at the door frame, making Danny crane his head up to look over his father's shoulder to watch in distress. Jack, on the other hand was simply curious.

"That reminds me, Danny. We ought to go out sometime together. Father-son time, right?" Jack turned to look at Danny and blinked to find his son already heading up stairs.

"Yeah, sure that's great. We can do that some other time, Dad," Danny said hurriedly as went to his room. He could let his dad wonder, but right now, Danny needed to make sure that Vince was all right. Behind the doors of his bedroom, Danny turned to his ghost form and darted out through the walls and just over his Dad's head, invisible.

He took to the route where he had watched David direct Vince to follow. He was startled, and a little panicked, when he couldn't see them. They couldn't have gone far. However, while zipping past a narrow alley, Danny jarred his movement when he heard a venomous growl and a small yelp.

"I've spent years waiting for that heart of yours, and this is what you've done to it?" Confused and more (than) alarmed, Danny peeked into the alley to find David pinning Vince up against the wall of the alley by the collar of his shirt. Vince was looking just as startled as Danny was at the sight and sound of David's fierce growl.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"_This._" The so-called parent shoved his free hand over Vince's chest. Immediately, the teen yelped and started to squirm and kick violently as if David had just plunged a cold knife into his chest.

"G-get away," Vince said hoarsely, unable to hide the fright still riddled over his face. David gave a sadistic smirk to the struggling teen.

"Oh do relax, _you little freak. _I'm just letting you know just how much your heart _hates_ you." He chuckled and pushed his hand harder against the left side of his chest. Danny twitched involuntarily as he watched Vince stop moving all together.

"But right now, I want to find out what it loves…Wha-!?"

Danny didn't wait a second longer to aid his friend's request. As much as Danny wanted to know what was happening here, he didn't want to let Vince get hurt any more. It didn't really look like David was hurting Vince at all, but the teen certainly made it appear like he was. Convinced, Danny separated the two by means of firing a large ecto-blast in David's direction.

David glanced up in time to see the teenage hero throw an attack at his side and was immediately dislodged from Vince. He barreled to the ground a few feet away. Danny rose into the air a bit more and drew up, placing himself between Vince and David. The imposter of a parent hissed and scrambled to his feet. However, the moment the ghost looked at Danny, the rage diminished and a wicked smile stretched across his lips.

"So you're the one," he said while spreading his legs into a stance. Danny noticed this immediately and moved to strike first.

"Yeah sure. I'm the one who's going to kick your butt!" Cheesy, yes, but Danny didn't have a clue what this ghost was talking about. It didn't matter either. He shot two blasts at David, and to Danny's surprise, the man hardly managed to get out of range by jumping back.

What was wrong with this ghost? Didn't all ghosts fly? His next attack didn't fail to miss and suckered David right in his face and caused the man to fall harshly. Danny almost thought, for a worried moment, that David might actually be a human until he heard an unearthly scream.

"You little monster!"

David rose up onto his feet again eerily with one hand covering the side of his face. Danny's eyes grew wide as he saw what the ghost was trying to cover. His hand, including a good portion of his face, looked like cracked porcelain. And under the fragile face, where the human-looking skin cracked and fell off, Danny could see pitch black skin wrapped over the raised skeleton of a cheek bone and knobby fingers.

"Look what you've done!" it shrieked with a voice that no longer suited male or female. "My face!" it hissed. Danny was more astounded that it didn't look like it was in any pain over having a quarter of its face burned off. Then again… seeing a portion of teeth move without lips as it spoke was also disturbing him. Keeping a firm grip on his protective mood, Danny glared back.

"I'm going to do a lot more than that," whatever he did, "before I'm through with you," he threatened as he raised fists that radiated with his green signature green power. To Danny's surprise, the ghost appeared to be intimidated and started to step back. Danny watched in blank astonishment as the ghost's feet began to change and tear through the shoes that once sported David's feet. The ghost hissed again and bent down on his now-clawed ebony feet and jumped up and over and into the air, where he didn't land and started his escape, flying like a normal ghost should.

Danny was about to follow after him before he remembered about an important person that he had been protecting. Vince was still leaning back against the wall, staring in front of himself, shell shocked. Danny bit his lip and looked back to the fleeing form of Vince's assailant before returning back down to the ground near Vince. A hand was clutching over the left side of his chest while Danny approached.

"Hey, are you all right?" Danny said the moment his feet touched the ground. Vince seemed to snap out of his thoughts when he heard Danny Phantom speak and looked to his rescuer, still shocked. At least he lowered his hand from his chest.

"I… I have to go," Vince uttered quickly and turned on his heels to dart out of the alley. Confused by Vince's odd reaction, Danny nearly considered chasing after him in his ghost form, but thought otherwise when he recalled the wild and startled look across Vince's face before he fled.

Danny Phantom didn't comfort the people; Danny Fenton did.

**DP**

Vlad hated his body. He hated how weak it had become, and just how compromising it was to be known as Vlad Masters while trapped in this flimsy body. That was why he hadn't revealed his secret to Skulker, and it was the same reason why he hadn't simply summoned his buzzards to retrieve Jack's blasted weapon. No one must know who he was. He would lose count on how many ghosts there were that would love to have a bone to pick with him while he could hardly defend himself as he used to.

And yet, at the doors of the Fenton's house, there was someone who knew. And he was playing with him. Like a cat batting at a tightly wound ball of yarn. He knew that he couldn't make a scene and give Jack or Danny a reason to investigate his background. He had none after all. This so called David Morgens was nonexistent! Just as Vincent-blasted-Morgens!

Vlad let himself get pulled out from Danny's house, confused, worried, and above all, angry. It wasn't too hard to tell that this man was a ghost, but like some ghost guises, he appeared perfectly human. It had taken a moment for his ghost senses to actually react to _David's_ presence.

Despite this, Vlad let himself get carried off, hoping silently that Danny wasn't foolish enough to think that this ghost was really Vince's father. It was when they were out of earshot that Vlad took action and pulled his arm free from the man's grasp.

"All right, who are you?" Vlad growled, ending his charade for the obvious lie between the two. David made a crooked smile. Charming perhaps, but nothing that Vlad could care for.

"I'm insulted. You don't remember me when I helped you in your dire need for counsel?" He chuckled and took Vlad's arm again, this time pushing him to walk. "Although, I wouldn't blame you... I had blond hair, and one hell of a bust," the ghost known as David drawled indifferently.

Vlad seriously wished to question what David just said.

Instead, Vlad moved to pry himself away from the ghost again, growling. "I can't seem to remember when I've ever been in any 'dire need for counsel' either." He gritted his teeth when David's grip remained firm. Vince resorted to using a hand to get David's off from his arm.

"Let go of me," he demanded.

The order was ignored while David pushed him again, and this time into the alley that they had been approaching where he finally let go so that Vince could stumble forward and land roughly on his hands and knees.

"You can't even remember that?" The voice held less amusement while Vince started to gather himself to his feet. "Oh Vlad… heart has changed," he said icily, and before Vince had the time to make a run for it down the alley, let alone question David, he felt a hand snag his collar and shove him effortlessly up against the wall. Vlad wished that he had been more composed now that he thought about it, but he yelped anyway when he found himself pinned.

Daniel was watching by now. Vlad could sense it, and bitterly choose not to phase out from under David's grasp and spoil his secret for Daniel. The ghost snarled, grabbing his attention again.

"I've spent years waiting for that heart of yours, and this is what you've done to it?" David hissed, and Vlad frowned, growing impatient with the confusion that this ghost seemed to be constantly radiating.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"_This."_

Vlad regretted that he had ever asked. The moment he felt a hand over his chest, Vlad became aware of a sharp pain inside of his body. It felt as if his vital organ under David's hand was replaced with a coil of thorns, shredding and grinding against the inside of his chest with each heart beat. Vlad began to writhe and twist wildly, ignorant of anything around him for the first few seconds as he squirmed, trying to alleviate the pain. When he realized it was hurting most under David's grasp, he wildly took a hold of the man's arm in a panicked attempt to pull the hand away from him. Neither David nor the silent pain would leave him alone.

"G-get away from me."

David didn't, and the pain grew until he said something else that Vlad couldn't bother himself to listen when he noticed the object of his pain adjusted its position and applied more pressure. Expecting pain, Vlad winced and strengthened his struggle. However, the breath escaped his lips when the unnatural agony ended, leaving nothing but confusion and the feeling like he was dreaming.

All the things that were happening around him were a little unclear, as most dreams would be. A part of Vlad knew what was going on and that this was no dream, but the rest of him couldn't care less when something else became the object of attention. The worst of this sensation that Vlad could recall was the sense of awareness and panic that was being discarded like the packaging inside a box in place of feeling the curious warmth swell inside his chest. The immediate sensation made him want to squirm away, not out of discomfort, but out of fear that something very important of his was about to be revealed to this monster clutching at his chest. Since he couldn't get away, he felt dread begin to ebb just as his panic had been, only to be replaced with an even deeper emotion. Desire.

Vlad had very little examples to describe the sensation, but it came close to the feelings he once found familiar when he would see Maddie. So close and yet she might as well be thousands of miles away guarded behind ghost proof walls. Maddie, however, was not the object of his thoughts.

It was someone else.

Before Vlad could make out these feelings and figure out just who he was thinking of, his answer, unbeknownst to him, came swooping in to dislodge David's offending hand from his chest. It was at that point that Vlad realized he had been holding his breath.

What just happened here? As if an alarm had just woken him up, Vlad felt and looked disoriented from the mixed feelings that lingered inside his chest. Aching and pain were now evident, but they were dulled significantly with the help of the stuffy, cottony feeling that reminded him that he was supposed to know something that he couldn't quite recall any more.

How infuriating.

His surroundings came to his attention when he partially heard the brawl of his offender when Danny threw a few attacks at him. Vlad quietly took note that it hadn't taken much for the ghost to back off and scowled inwardly at the fact that was aware of just how afraid he was for that ghost or whatever it was to ever come near him again.

Vlad had never felt so doubtful of himself in his life in this one very rare instance. It had him off his guard and he could barely react proportionately to Daniel's concern. Was he supposed to feel all right? Daniel just 'saved' him correct?

Then why did he feel like he still needed to run?

**DP**

To be continued…

**DP**


End file.
